The Quarterly Publication of 
the Historical and Philosoph- 
ical Society of Ohio 

CINCINNATI OHIO 




Vol. X1U9I7. Nos. 2 & 3 
APRIUUNE— JULY-SEPTEMBER 



t 



J ( 



Entehed at the Post-Office at Cincinnati as SFcoxD-CLA^rt Matter 



Historical and Philosophical 
Society of Ohio 



Burnet Woods, 



Cincinnati, Ohio 



OFFICERS 



JOSEPH WILBY, - 
FRANK J. JONES, - 
HOWARD C. HOLLISTER, 
CHARLES T. GREVE, - 
FREDERICK W. HINKLE, 
ELLIOTT H. PENDLETON, 
MISS L. BELLE HAMLIN, 
ALBERT H. CHATFIELD, 
DAVIS L. JAMES, 
MERRICK WHITCOMB, - 
ELLIOTT H. PENDLETON. 
JAMES W. BULLOCK, 



President. 

Vice-President. 

Vice-President. 

Corresponding Secretary. 

Recording Secretary. 

Treasurer. 

Librarian. 

1 ■ 

- Curators. 



COMMITTEli IN CHARCxE OF PUBLICATION 



CHARLES T. GREVE 



I'KLULRiC 



Mi^^ I r.i'i 1 !■■ irAiMiiN' 



Quarterly Publication of the His- 
torical and Philosophical 
Society of Ohio 



Vol. XII, 1917, Nos. 2 & 3 
APRIL-JUNE— JULY-SEPTEMBER 



View of the President's Conduct 
Concerning the Conspiracy of 1806 



BY 

J. H. DAVEISS 
A REPRINT 

EDITED BY 

ISAAC JOSLIN COX 

Associate Professor of History 
AND 

HELEN A. SWINEFORD 

D. A. R. Fellow, University of Cincinnati 



CINCINNATI 

THE ABINGDON PRESS 






4- \^ o-(k 

Monograph 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction, - - - 53 

To THE People, 58 

Sketch of Our Political History, - - - - 58 

Correspondence With the Executive of the United 
States, 68 

Stricture On The President's Communication Of The 

22d January, 106 

January 18th, 1807, - - 121 

Postscript, - - - - 128 

Sketch Of The Political Profile Of Our Three 

Presidents, 129 

President Adams, -------- 133 

President Jefferson, .--... 143 

Extracts From Ellicott's Journal, - - . _ 151 

Affidavit Allltded To In The Preceding Part Of 
The Pamphlet, - - 152 



INTRODUCTION. 

Joseph Hamilton Daveiss was bom in Bedford County, Vir- 
ginia, March 4, 1774. Of mixed Scotch and Irish descent he 
blended the peculiarities of both stocks as modified by the existing 
pioneer conditions in the Blue Ridge section. When he was five 
years old the great tide of immigration caused by Virginia's fa- 
vourable land laws of 1779 swept the Daveiss family over the 
mountains into the wilderness of Kentucky, near the present site 
of Danville. 

"Field schools" were a post-Revolutionary achievement, so 
young Daveiss was taught by his pious, intelligent mother until the 
age of twelve." In the succeeding years under the tutelage of 
Drs. Brooks, Worley, Priestly and Culbertson, he made great 
progress in English, Latin, and Greek. In 1792, Daveiss joined 
Major John Adair's volunteer force which was occupied in pro- 
tecting supplies destined for forts north of the Ohio. At the end 
of this service he entered the law office of George Nicholas. In 
1795 he was admitted to practice in the District of Kentucky with 
an office, for a time, in Danville. 

Here his rapid rise, for he speedily became a noted lawyer, was 
no fortuitous circumstance. He was an earnest, if not a deep 
student, very ambitious, assured of future greatness, and deter- 
mined always to appear well in public. As evidence of these 
traits we may quote from one of the letters of Daveiss that are 
preserved in the Durrett Collection. This is dated September 10, 
1798, and is addressed to a former schoolmate: "I will only 
tell you concerning myself ; that I am more studious than ever 
heretofore. And in addition to History and Law, I have made a 
tour through Chemistry and Anatomy, and mean to go on to 
others ; an Orator should have a smattering of all sciences in our 
nation; that he may use them occasionally and not be discom- 
posed by pedants, who like great travelers, are proud of telling 
and shewing how many books and readings they have gone 
through : But my readings on Chemistry and Anatomy have been 

53 



of real utility; they extend and concentrate the uses of language 
as occasion may require the one or the other. I am not afraid 
of reading too far, but of accurately learning too far. I'll have a 
care. Division and distribution to a certain degree contribute 
to strengthen activity and capacity for action, but division beyond 
this dissipates strength and loses the proper affinity and cohesion. 
Exemplify a human body and an oration." 

During the winter of 1801-02 he went to Washington to argue 
before the Supreme Court the celebrated case of Mason vs. Wilson, 
having been promised one half of the "Green River Country" if 
he could establish a claim to it. On this occasion his eloquent 
presentation of his case won the admiration of Chief Justice Mar- 
shall, who presided, and gave him a standing among the foremost 
lawyers of his profession. In 1803, Daveiss married Ann, sister 
of the Chief Justice. Both men were staunch Federalists at a time 
when Kentucky was strongly Republican and it is possible that 
Marshall saw in young Daveiss a saviour of the cause of Federal- 
ism in the western country. Certainly the political bias of Daveiss 
will explain much of the bitterness against Jefferson that he shows 
in the following pages. 

During the years 1805 and 1806 the Burr Conspiracy engrossed 
his attention. His own treatment at the hands of the chief execu- 
tive led him to publish the bitter pamphlet that is herewith re- 
printed. In connection with the "Western World," a sheet that 
devoted itself to reviving and intensifying the rancorous partisan- 
ship of the earlier "Spanish Conspiracy," we may regard the 
"View" as an attempt to build up a Federalist following in the 
West. If so, the attempt was a complete failure. Perhaps Daveiss 
may have been inspired by the attempt of John Randolph and the 
"Quids," to disrupt the Jeffersonian following, but he apparently 
had no more success in Kentucky than that leader met with in 
Virginia. It does not appear from evidence at hand that Daveiss 
had any close connection with Randolph. 

During the years 1803-1806 Daveiss made Yellow Banks his 
home, but in 1807 he removed to Lexington. During the next four 
years he was engaged in every important case before the courts, 
but he gained little political influence for his activity in connection 
with the Burr Conspiracy had turned the great weight of public 
opinion against him. 

54 



Always athirst for military fame, in the fall of 1811, he vol- 
unteered to serve in the Kentucky militia under Governor Harri- 
son. Here too he met with even greater misfortune than marked 
the Burr expose, for in the Battle of Tippecanoe the brave Ken- 
tuckian, the audacious backwoodsman, who had been undaunted 
by the polished armor of a Burr and a Clay and even the official 
dignity of a Jefferson, was cut off by an Indian's bullet. The 
sword which Daveiss wore on that occasion is preserved in a 
vault in the Masonic Widows and Orphans Home in Louisville. 
Judge Levi Todd, a friend and pupil of the great lawyer, pre- 
sented it to the Grand Lodge of Masons, of which Daveiss was 
Grand Master at his death. 

Judge Lucius P. Little, of Owensboro, (formerly Yellow 
Banks), Kentucky, is personally acquainted with many of the 
Daveiss family now scattered throughout the state. In a recent 
letter to the editors, he wrote : "Daveiss was a great lawyer, and 
a brave soldier, a thorough patriot, and would have written his 
name on the brightest pages of his country's history, had he not 
been stricken down by an unrelenting fate." It is only fair to add 
that many of the contemporaries of Daveiss do not share this ad- 
miration. For instance, James Morrison speaks of the 'View' as 
inspired by 'malice and deep-rooted hatred of the President,' as 
well as of Wilkinson. Morrison was an intimate friend of Wil- 
kinson, so this characterization is not surprising. General James 
Taylor, whose manuscript 'Autobiography' is in the Durrett Col- 
lection, represents Daveiss as a bullying swash-buckler who was 
bound to fight him (Taylor) or General Thomas Sandford because 
Jefferson had removed him from office. In both cases the chal- 
lenge of Daveiss met with a farcical response. On the other hand 
Henry Clay, according to the personal testimony of Mrs. Maria 
Thompson Daveiss, (History of Mercer and Boyle Counties, 
Durrett Collection), held Daveiss in high regard, although at the 
Burr hearing in Frankfort they were bitter apponents. 

The pamphlet of which this is a reprint was owned by J. M. 
Stevenson, and the bracketings and marginal notes are probably 
his. Daveiss omitted from his pamphlet the names of those whom 
he suspected of disloyalty, but they have been supplied from his 
original letters, found in the Jefferson Papers in the Library of 
Congress. The photostat copies were procured through the kind- 

55 



ness of Dr. J. F. Jamieson, of the Bureau of Historical Research 
of the Carnegie Institution. 

The punctuation, as well as the order of words, in the original 
letters varies in many instances from that in the pamphlet, but the 
meaning is not altered. The capitalization of nouns such as 
"Silence" and "Treason" and the abbreviation of titles is common 
throughout the original letters, but we have followed the text of 
the pamphlet. 

The editors desire to thank Miss L. Belle Hamlin and Cap- 
tain Alfred Pirtle for the assistance they rendered in the prepa- 
ration of this work. I. J. C. 

H. A. S. 



A 

VIEW 

of the 

PRESIDENT'S CONDUCT, 

CONCERNING THE CONSPIRACY OF 

1806. 



BY J. H. DAVEISS, 

LATE ATTORNEY OF THE UNITED STATES, FOR KENTUCKY 



FRANKFORT. KENTUCKY: 

From the Press of Joseph M. Street. 
1807. 



\. 



A 
VIEW, &c. 



TO THE PEOPLE. 



The; active, though unsuccessful part, I have lately taken, in 
arresting Mr. Burr's enterprise, and the public disapprobation ex- 
cited against me, on account of it, renders the President's removal 
of me from the office of Attorney for Kentucky,^ somewhat re- 
markable ; an office very trivial, you know, as to its emoluments — 
and one, which I should not have held at any time since I left 
Frankfort, but with the view of terminating the suits commenced 
by me against delinquent collectors, through whom the govern- 
ment is likely to loose a vast sum of money. But my removal 
from it, after the recent course of events, presents a suspicion 
injurious to my honor, which in these pages I shall refute; and 
unless I deceive myself, will show you, that the president of the 
United States, needs a vindication more than I, having acted with 
as much negligence and insincerity towards this nation, as he has 
towards me. You have seen his late communication to congress, 
on the subject of the conspiracy; a communication on which it 
is very difficult for me to speak, without forgetting the decorum 
proper to be observed toward the president of the United States. 
I have no allusion to the obliquity thrown out respecting the pro- 
ceedings, in Kentucky, against Burr. I point at the verity of the 
report, and the vigilant and faithful conduct, which is stated to 
have been pursued by the government. 

Before, however, I proceed to lay before you the papers eluci- 
dating these transactions, indulge me while I give a brief sketch 
of the political situation of the Western Country, prior to the 
year 1806, as far as it may come within the scope of the present 
subject. 



SKETCH OF OUR POLITICAL HISTORY. 

Spain became our ally in the war with Great Britian, in the 
summer 1779; but without acknowledgeing our independence. 

* Daveiss had been appointed by Adams, at the suggestion of Chief Justice 
Marshall. He was removed from office early in the spring of 1807 by Jefferson. 
— Autobiography of James Taylor, Durrett Papers, University of Chicago. 

58 



We were grateful; for whether she directly strengthened us or 
not, she assisted in weakening and annoying our adversary. 

Events, however, soon evinced that Spain played the game for 
herself, without regarding her partner, farther than her own in- 
terest made it necessary to do so. 

Before the close of the year 1799 [1779], she took the country 
of Florida, having already the other possessions on the Missis- 
sippi, which she held till [4] lately. As I write altogether from 
memory, without the aid of books or documents, I beg to be ex- 
cused for any mistake in immaterial particulars. 

The extent of the territories annexed to all these several set- 
tlements and posts, like those we have obtained from France, was 
not ascertained: so Spain formed the project of making as much 
of her good fortune as possible. 

At the treaty of Paris, the ministers of Spain and France in- 
sisted very strenuously, that our independence should be dated 
from that treaty, and not from the date of our own declaration. 
This was opposed with great energy and ability by one^ of the 
American ministers, there being only two there at that time. The 
ministers of Spain and France then changed their ground, to 
sound those of the United States upon the subject of boundary; 
and urged that our western boundary should be a line from the 
mouth of Kanhawa along the Appalachian, and thence to the 
sea at the mouth of (I think) St. Mary's river. ^ This was opposed 
in like manner as the former. When Mr. Adams arrived, he 
joined Mr. Jay ; and Dr. Franklin's opinion was overruled. 

I have been assured that our government never could under- 
stand, why this very earnest effort was made about the date of our 
independence; but, in my opinion, a knowledge of our Secret 
History furnishes a very satisfactory solution of the difficulty. 

Spain wished to claim the Ohio country or part of it. Had the 
question concerning independence been settled as she wished, she 
could then have had colour to urge the point about boundary. 
Had she carried the question about boundary, her object would 
have been attained. Indeed her true motive in this dispute about 
independence, seems indicated by her proposition about bound- 
ary. 

» John Jay. 

•See McLoughlin, Confederation and Constitution {Am. Nat.) X, Chap. II, 
for boundaries as decided. 

59 



Boundary was the only object: the date of independence was 
only a mean used to arrive at that subject. Whether France had 
any view of her own, or only joined in urging the matter to be- 
friend Spain, I cannot say. She had acknowledged our independ- 
ence when she joined us. I note this transaction to shew you, 
that so early as the date of our national existence, Spain had her 
eye on this country; and though she failed in both her points at 
Paris, yet she did not abandon the project, but has continually 
since been devising means of effectuating it. 

Between 1783 and 1786, we do not know what intrigues were 
carried on by the Spanish government, in relation to this subject. 
But about the year 1786, General Wilkinson made a trip to New 
Orleans.* Being a man of address, he soon made the governor 
believe that a little prudence and good management, would in- 
sure the country. The appearance of so elegant a gentleman and 
a general, was very promising; and it was confidently expected 
that he would bring with him the whole community — an idea 
easily caught by the subjects of an absolute monarchy, where the 
power and influence of a man of note are so great. Wilkinson had 
a pension settled upon him ; and from this time a correspondence 
was regularly kept up between this country and the Spaniards. 

An incident, the like of which often happens and passes un- 
observed, turned out very unfortunate for the fraternal relations 
between us and our Eastern brethren ; and gave Spain and her ad- 
herents among us great hopes. I allude to Mr. Jay's proposition, 
to cede the Mississippi for a period between fifteen and twenty- 
five years.^ (The story with us was twenty-five years absolutely; 
and I am told it was so stated by Mr. James [5] Innis : but the fact 
is not so. I have seen an original duplicate of the papers laid 
before congress.) 

This was cried about as the workings of Eastern jealousy, and 
an attempt to smother us. It was handled in so masterly a manner, 
that the whole body of the people held the point so clear, as neither 
to require nor admit any explanation. It was of no avail that the 
minister had only stated this in private to our own councils, and 

^See W. R. Shepherd — "Wilkinson and the Beginning of Spanish Con- 
spiracy."— ^mer. Hist., Rev. Vol. IX, 490 et seq., and 748-766. 

^Secret Journals of Congress, Aug. 28, 1786, IV, 8 Iff. 

60 



had stated our national condition to be such as in his judgment 
compelled us to temporise, or submit to be bullied. It was in 
vain that the councils of the nation had overruled the minister's 
judgment : It was in vain that this very minister, three years be- 
fore, had declared at the treaty of Paris, that war should unpeople 
the land, ere we should accept a boundary short of this river. 
The proposal of the minister, not the doings of the government, 
was the subject for us; nor did our knowing men ever let us 
farther into the matter, or know anything more of it. No subject 
was ever so much bandied, and so little understood, (not even ex- 
cepting the common law during the reign of terror.) So rare 
are those patriots who tell the people the truth. 

I note this the more carefully, that by retrospect, you may see 
how carefully public error and public folly have been nursed. 

I wholly disapprove that minister's proposal : but nothing ap- 
pears to me so utterly stupid, as suspecting him of local influence 
or unworthy motives. What rivalship did Kentucky present, in 
1786, to the Atlantic states? What rivalship does she and all the 
Ohio country now present, when the twenty-five years, (the ut- 
most limit) are almost expired? Just as much as Lexington does 
to New York : And here I leave unobserved altogether, our un- 
expected and wonderful growth. I would as soon suspect Dr. 
Franklin of treachery, for assenting that this river and all its 
country should be given up at the treaty of Paris. 

If there were ten Mississippis, the Atlantic people would pray 
that there might be an eleventh one added. A vast portion of their 
citizens do, and must live by the carrying trade. 

A great deal of our heat and violence all over America, pro- 
ceeds from our ignorance of each other's situations. 

In this last paragraph, I digress to submit a correction of what 
I deem a public error, as to a measure, and as to a citizen. I now 
return to my sketch. 

We cried out vehemently for the navigation of the river : Our 
congress did their utmost to obtain it ; but failed, altho' abundantly 
stimulated by abuse. In process of time, having applied for and 
obtained the assent of Virginia to a separation, we applied to con- 
gress. Then comes the scene that might have explained the whole 



61 



affair to our Eastern brethren, if they had inquired and attended 
to it. Congress said they would not admit us as a state into the 
expiring confederation, which would now cease and give place to 
the new constitution in a few months ; but they were clearly and 
decidedly of opinion, that we ought to be admitted, whenever the 
new constitution took effect. 

Our only representative in congress then, was one of our genu- 
ine republicans.® This did not suit him at all. The period of ad- 
mission was soon enough for any purpose. Its prospect was 
wholly certain; but the true reason of pressing the point home 
then, was a supreme one, but must by no means be given. I'll tell 
you what it was. // we had been admitted as a state, we must 
have had a convention of our own to ratify, or reject the constitu- 
tion. It was positively [6] certain that we would have rejected it. 

[sic] 
(There were but two votes for ratifying it, from this country in 
Virginia convention.^) Then came the happy moment, so de- 
voutly to be wished, and so earnestly sought for, by Spain, and 
our own leading men. We were a separate sovereign power, hav- 
ing a right to contract our own alliances, and could be married to 
Spain without asking leave of any one. 

I aver that this man proceeded to settle with Gardoque [i],^ 
the minister, the terms between Spain and us, in the event of our 
declaring ourselves independent ; and then used every effort in his 
power, by writing letters, conversing, and in the convention here, 
to carry this object. But our evU genius stood near and dashed 
the plan. I have no doubt that a more corrupt transaction than 
this, never took place in any country. 

Now mark what follows : One of this man's letters was pub- 
lished. The people got a general idea of his conduct, though its 
detail was concealed. A new election came on. This man had 

'Honorable John Brown, of Danville. He was born near Stanton, Va., 
Sept. 12, 1757, and died at Frankfort, Aug. 28, 1837. Chosen as delegate 
to Congress Oct. 31, 1787. See Va. Calendar of State Papers, Vol. IV, 504. 
He conspired with Gardoqui for the separation of Kentucky. See Green — 
"Spanish Conspiracy," 159-161. 

' Three members of Kentucky voted for it, Rice Bullock, Robert Brecken- 
ridge and Humphrey Marshall. See Green — "The Spanish Conspiracy," 143. 
Also "Debates and Other Proceedings of the Convention of Va., 1788," p. 215. 

' Gardoqui, encargado de negocios of his Catholic Majesty, who arrived in 
Philadelphia 1785, to make a treaty with the United States. 

62 



greater efforts made for him throughout the country, and he car- 
ried his election by a greater majority, and with more triimiph 
and eclat, than ever such a poll was carried in this country. And 
any man who denounced this flagitious behaviour, was pursued 
and hunted down with mortal hate and fury. You may guess how 
it was, when you see what flashes and explosions it produced, 
when a newspaper attempted this subject last year, though in a 
very irregular and disconnected manner. 

Don't imagine that anything here said, is with personal view ; — 
far from it. That man has fallen long since to the point above 
which he ought never to have been elevated. I speak to show you 
what the state of public mind was, in relation to the Spanish 
politics. 

Let us hear it no more asserted, that it was an affair, devised 
by a few men only. It is a gross and willful misrepresentation. 
I do not believe there was one man of note throughout the country, 
who did not know of it. Several abhorred it — but who dare rouse 
the Lion? The government had but little information. The 
scheme then failed; but mark, countrymen — these patriots have 
composed the hierarchy of powers; and the real effective func- 
tions of government have remained with them, or their favorites, 
ever since. Those who then opposed them, have been indebted 
to their prudent neutrality, ever since, for their peace and pre- 
ferment, of which they have only been in possession by courtesy. 

The present constitution was opposed most bitterly in Ken- 
tucky. It was a death blow to that scheme, which I have no doubt 
would long ere now have been consummated under the confeder- 
ation. In the spring 1789, just when the new constitution took 
effect, a very elevated citizen sent a secret express by water to 
Governor Gayoso,® to prevent the spirit of the Spaniard from 
languishing under the idea, that all was lost. The precise contents 
of these dispatches I do not know; — they were sent with great 
haste and great secrecy. That hatred and enmity to the adminis- 
tration of the government which followed the new constitution, 
was easily accounted for, by such as understood our secret history. 
I do not pretend that all opposition flowed from this source. You 
know from how many different springs, a correspondence of senti- 
ments may proceed. Some thought the government too strong; 

' Don Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Spanish governor of Louisana, and West 
Florida, 1797-1799. He was a bosom friend of Wilkinson. 

63 



some could not see or understand its necessity ; others again, were 
very anxious to build their popularity on their success in foment- 
ing public dislike, which had been produced first by the [7] efforts 
of these Spanish patriots. Thence the fury with which every 
measure of the general government was assailed. 

Then came the democratic society at Lexington;^" some of 
whose precious labours and writings you have lately seen. It is 
my sincere belief that this was the most abominable Jacobin 
Club, that ever sat on this side the Atlantic; and of the most 
poisonous tendency. 

One of its grand focal points, was to bring public mind to bear 
on this hypothesis : "that the Atlantic interest and ours were at 
"variance, and with a view to oppress us, and raise themselves, 
"they were insincere in their endeavors for the Mississippi." 

This at length became so well ingrafted, that whoever dared to 
doubt of it, was considered as no real friend of ours; but a 
favourer of our adversaries. The federal government had nearly 
become a foreign government to us. 

We became impatient of the delays, in getting the river : We 
thought the matter unsafe in the hands of our minister at Madrid, 
being an Atlantic gentleman ; — so we sent a minister of our own 
privately to make a treaty, not for the nation but for us.^^ What- 
ever was the intention of this measure, it undoubtedly was, if it 
had taken, the deepest stroke at our union that ever was made since 
the effort to get us into the old confederation, while the new con- 
stitution was under consideration. 

See how the thing would have worked. We make a treaty 
with Spain, that we shall trade freely to her Mississippi posses- 
sions without duty; — and as Spain gives this by the way of 
•whore's fee, we are to expect it to be extended to us with the most 
alluring appendages. Well — we have got this treaty. It is in- 

^"In Aug., 1793, the Democratic Society was organized in Lexington, for 
the purpose of wresting the Mississippi from Spain, thru intrigues with 
the French. — Marshall, II, 91. John Breckenridge was the president of the 
society. — Green, "Spanish Conspiracy," 143. 

"In the spring of 1798, Judge Sebastian visited New Orleans and was 
requested by the Spanish governor, Gayoso, to have agents chosen by the 
people of Kentucky to adjust the matter of separation. See forthcoming 
publication of I. J. Cox, "The West Florida Controversy," 49, 56. Details 
of the mission are given in sumamente reservado of Gayoso to the Prince of 
Peace, June 5, 1798, Legajo, 43, Papeles de Cuba. 

64 



tended, as it said, to lay it before the President for approbation. 
Now does any sober man really imagine, that the President would 
receive otherwise than with the utmost indignation and contempt, 
a paper of this kind, coming to him from a private junto ? Would 
he not command the law officers to prosecute those concerned in 
it, if the law would reach them ? 

He would contemn it, and order our minister at Madrid to pro- 
ceed to make a treaty of this advantageous kind, in behalf of and 
by the authority of the nation. — What follows ? — Even this — ^that 
Spain will absolutely refuse to extend to the nation, the particu- 
lar grace and favour, which she intended toward one of the sis- 
ters, as the premium pudoris, — as the price of her prostitution. 
So the minister at Madrid wholly fails to get this treaty. Then 
how would these patriots speak? "Behold countrymen what a 
"false and treacherous administration ! We always told you they 
"played us false concerning the Mississippi. Now it is proved be- 
"yond a doubt. See here we made a treaty obtaining all we 
"wanted. The government would not agree to that. None would 
"do but their own work ; and the event is as we foretold : — nothing 
"is done, and the blessings we had secured let go." 

I have no doubt in saying, that it would have been at great 
personal hazard, that any man would have dared to stand forth 
and condemn you and your treaty, and tell you the truth. 

This project failed by the conclusion of a treaty at Madrid. 
But when the ministers come to know how they missed their mark 
by that treaty, they hoped the case was not yet desperate ; and tried 
the $100,000 project, of which you have lately heard.^^ 

The sum and conclusion of the whole matter is this: — You 
countrymen [8] of Kentucky, you are the cause, and the sole 
cause, why you have suffered for the want of commerce as you 
have. You have rent Heaven with your cries of grievance and of 
execration of Atlantic influence ; but the influence which withheld 
the river, came out of Kentucky only. If you had plucked out 
your right eye, you would have escaped the danger, which has 

" Baron de Carondelet, commander-in-chief and governor of the provinces 
of West Florida and Louisiana, 1791-1797, was to pay Innis, Nicholas Murray 
and Sebastian for devoting their time and talents to a separation of the 
western States.— Marshall, II, 220. See also forthcoming publication of I. J. 
Cox, "The West Florida Controversy," 46. Also letter from Morrison to Wil- 
kinson, Sept. 9, 1807, given in the Wilkinson Papers III, Chicago Historical 
Society. 

65 



hung over you for five and twenty years, of being cast into Hell 
whole and unmaimed. 

You have kept Spain on the tip-toe of expectation, that this 
country was upon the point of dropping into her bosom for all 
this time. Were it not that any quotation from Mr. Adams, would 
look like setting public opinion at defiance I would borrow his 
words and say that you have in your bosom a faction which ought 
to be humbled to dust and ashes. Had you behaved like true 
Americans from the first, Spain would have found the folly of 
imagining that she could keep the river from us. But what is 
more decisive, she would then have no longer had an object in 
doing it. She wanted our commerce as much as we did hers. 

During this long period, much foreign money has been cir- 
culated among our citizens. As to some, there is proof; as to 
others, good cause to believe. But one consideration weighs much 
with me: — We can never suppose that a foreign power will pay 
pensions to our citizens at all, unless she has a sufficient number 
in the net, to present a prospect of final success, by means of their 
influence. 

In 1804^^ we acquired the island of Orleans and the river, by 
one of the greatest strokes of diplomacy, known in history. By 
virtue of a memorial drawn, it is said, by our immortal President, 
shewing the French that they would not know how to use this 
country, and would be more benefitted by our having it than keep- 
ing it themselves — which memorial, was presented just when 
France was in the pinch of a game — by which memorial backed by 
the bare sum of fifteen millions of money, we got some part of 
what we wanted and sought for, to wit, the island of Orleans, 
and half a world besides. By this measure a wider spread was 
afforded for the principles of liberty, which was certainly an im- 
mense blessing to a nation of six millions, pent up and cooped to- 
gether upon a little bit of earth, not containing above a million of 
square miles ! ! ! 

But countrymen, it is some years too soon to say any thing on 
this point. Your infatuation must wear off a little first. 

Having secured the ownership of this river, the first subject 
which occured to re-unite the old politicians, was the late project 
to sever these states. It appears now as though Mr. Burr had 

"The treaty was signed May 2, 1803, ratified Oct. 21, 1803. Possession 
was taken Dec. 20, 1803. 

66 



very few adherents ; but the fact was far otherwise. Thousands 
cry out against him now, who only affect that note, to escape 
suspicion of being actual accomplices, as they are. Wilkinson's 
desertion marred him. It was always my opinion he would suc- 
ceed to a very considerable extent at least, until I heard of that 
event. But there are some few matters appertenant to this scheme, 
which you are not aware of. The canal beyond the Falls: this 
was the first operative branch of the plan. Those people cared 
nothing about the canal. Canal was only for colour and pre- 
text ;^* — if was a bank they wanted. — And see what a law they pre- 
vailed on the assembly of Vincennes to pass — allowing people to 
subscribe in lands.^^ Can any man of sense believe this was ever 
intended for any other purpose, than to swindle the American 
people out of a few hundred thousand dollars? The course and 
outcome of the matter, sufficiently explained all that went before. 
They had how [9] ever the address to get names of several men 
of note and patriotism, inserted in the law, to make it go down well. 
In the same winter, a powerful effort was made to get Gen- 
eral Wilkinson governor of Natchez, and Mr. Sebastian at St. 
Louis, so a member of congress told me. Wilkinson told me him- 
self of the efforts made by Mr. Gallatin and others for him. But 
the President would not appoint him nor Sebastian. Then I am 
told, there was a very great and uncommon effort made for Wil- 
kinson, as governor at St. Louis. The throne was surrounded — 
the president was besieged. This prevailed. A leading feature of 
the scheme was, to have as many of the territorial governments as 
possible in the hands of their confederates. I have no doubt if 
I was acquainted with the doings at Washington, that I could 
name to you a great many acts done, or moved, to bear on the same 
subject. The next summer Mr. Burr came out here, and galloped 
around this half of the world, to see and fix his partizans.^^ You 
know the events since ; but one remark is particularly to be noted 
— all the remaining Spanish patriots, have to a man, been favourers 

"Wilkinson, Dayton, of New Jersey; Adair and Brown, of Kentucky; 
Smith, the senator from Ohio; Hovey and Floyd interested in this project. 
See "Liberty Hall and Cincinnati, Mercury," Mar. 12, 1805. See Palladium, 
Mar. 23, 1805, for Hovey's letters to Wilkinson in favor of the scheme. 

^^ Palladium, Dec. 9, 1805, says: "The money is not in lands, but the 
$200,000 subscribed is in Louisville. "—ikfar^/ia/Z, II, 372. 

^^For the movements of Burr, see "The Burr Conspiracy in the Ohio 
Valley," Henshaw, Ohio Arch, and Hist. Soc. Pub., Vol. XXIV, No. II. 

67 



of this adventurer. Even when it was universally spoken of, that 
a separation of the union would take place, they rallied around 
him, to defeat and triumph over the law and its officers, more 
universally than ever. The old men of them were prudent : they 
did not like to talk about it ; but could not conceal their fondness 
of the prospect. And our aliens, Frenchmen particularly, were 
in it almost universally. "Shall oppressed humanity find no 
assylum?" Yes, yes, Mr. President, let us open our arms, and 
receive the scum and adventurers of all the world. Those people 
that a monarchy is too weak to govern, will become excellent 
citizens in a country, where every man is a sovereign. Their 
assylum is like that, which Milton makes the monster at the gate 
of hell afford the dogs that guarded there. They crept into her 
bosom and kennelled, until a crisis came, when they could issue 
forth to deeds of destruction. This hasty sketch of our political 
history, shews you the theatre on which we stood, when toward 
the close of the year, 1805, Mr. Burr's project began to take air — 
A country in which or for which Spanish intrigues had never 
ceased since the era of our existence ; and these intrigues, always 
combined with the navigation of the Mississippi, with our politi- 
cal discontents, and ever addressed to elevated citizens. 



CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EXECUTIVE OF THE 
UNITED STATES. 

NEAR the end of the year 1805, I had satisfactory informa- 
tion that several of our citizens were pensioners of Spain ; and that 
a revolutionary scheme in the West had been projected, and its 
preparatory measures were progressing with great secrecy, under 
the superintendence of Mr. Burr and General Wilkinson — that 
many men of note in the Northern States were engaged in it, and 
many persons of high standing in Kentucky, among whom were 
the pensioners of Spain ; and that this was Burr's business to 
Orleans^'^ and all this western country in the former part of that 
year. [10] 

The gentlemen with whom I conversed confidentially, on this 
subject, seemed unwilling to inform the executive of the matter, 
though equally anxious with myself that it should be done. I 
considered that duty as altogether indispensible ; but put it off for 

"See W. R. Shepherd: "Wilkinson and the Beginning of Spanish Con- 
spiracy." — Amer. Hist., Rev. Vol. IX. 

68 



some weeks, hoping to acquire information of the detail of the 
plot. But as the only intelligence I could gather, was as to new 
accomplices, and as to the doings of individuals engaged, I thought 
it better to warn the President of the United States, of the exist- 
ence and general object of the plot, as I then received it, than to 
defer it until I should hear more particulars, or collect better 
testimony, should such chance fall in my way. 

This I did by a letter dated the loth day of January, 1806, 
of which the following is a faithful copy : — 

Sir, 

If I had as much confidence in the attachments of 
your^® friends towards you, as they make claim to, I should not 
address you this letter. But I have not; and the subject is too 
important to be pretermitted. 

The dangers, I fear may be trivial or distant, but as on the other 
hand, they may be near and momentous, and in such case your 
being early apprised of them highly important, it is a duty I owe 
you, as the chief of my government, to give you timely hints, 
whereby you may forstal the dangers, and bring the traitors to 
punishment in due season. 

Spanish intrigues have been carried on among our people. We 
have traitors among us. A separation of the union in favour 
of Spain, is the object finally. I know not what are the means. 

I am told, that Mr. EHicot, in his joumal,^^ communicated to 
the office of state, the names of the Americans concerned. 

If this be true you are long since guarded ; but I suspect either 
that it is not, or has escaped you; or you have considered the 
affair dead ; [because you have appointed General Wilkinson, as 
governor of St. Louis,^" who, I am convinced, has been for years, 
and now is, a pensioner of Spain. Should you ask me to prove 
it, I must resort to an extensive chain of circumstances, which, 
separately, seem small and inconclusive] f'^ and to informations 

18 In the original letter found in Jefferson's private correspondence in the 
Congressional Library, there is a variant reading as follows : ' 'in your friends 
and in their attachment towards you." 

I'See letter from Ellicot, Nov. 14, 1797, in Wilkinson's Memoirs, II., 170. 

2" There was considerable opposition to his appointment to a civil office 
at the same time that he held a military office. 

"' The part bracketed is underlined in the original pamphlet, probably by 
the owner, J. M. Stevenson, from whose copy this reprint has been made. 

69 



I have received from various persons and sources, which perhaps, 
I have not a right to refer to; nor is it necessary. An hint is all 
you want ; and due enquiry will ascertain and develope the whole 
matter and partners. 

A very exalted magistrate^" of this country, has lately drawn 
on Spain for his pension : of this I have the most unquestionable 
testimony. Before this was told me, I was laid under an in- 
junction of secrecy; but I abhor such confidence and told my 
informant (who is a man of integrity,) that I would let you 
know of it, though I would not, unless it would become neces- 
sary, make known the name of the magistrate. If you find it 
necessary, and command me, it shall be instantly communicated, 
and my name given up. But you will scarce think it right to 
spring the mine, before you have laid your train. 

This plot is laid wider than you imagine. Mention the sub- 
ject to no man from the Western Country, however high in office 
he may be. Some of them are deeply tainted with this treason. 
I hate duplicity of expression ; but on this subject I am not author- 
ised to be explicit ; nor is it necessary. You will dispatch some 
fit person into the Orleans Country, to inquire, having with him 
letters from the suspected gentlemen, and he can [ii] fully and 
easily develope the whole business. It is enough that I put you 
on your guard. 

If you desire it, I will enclose you a schedule of the names of 
the suspected persons. 

Do not think this a slight advertisement. If you do, and launch 
into a Spanish war,-^ you may most heartily wish you had treated 
it more seriously. May be, the out come of this matter, may 
explain the pertinacity and forwardedness of the Spaniards in 
going to war with us. 

In case of such a war, let neither the first nor second in com- 
mand, be appointed out of the Western Country. 

No one existing knows of this letter or its contents, and I 
design it to be strictly secret with you. If, however, you in your 
discretion, should wish it to be seen by Mr. Madison and Mr. 

" Benjamin Sebastian, judge in the Court of Appeals in Kentucky. From 
1795 to 1806 he was known to receive an annual pension of $2,000 from Spain. 
— Green, "The Spanish Conspiracy,'' 349, 353. 

-'The idea of appealing to the western States for a separation in case of 
war with Spain was prevalent among Spanish officials. See forthcoming 
publication of I. J. Cox: "The West Florida Controversy," 176. 

70 



Gallatin, I give you leave to show it, under unexceptionable in- 
junctions of silence; and I confide that you will not use it other- 
wise than I direct, though you do not assent to my restrictions. 
Depend on it, you have traitors around you, to give the alarm in 
time to their friends. If I am alarmed at trivial dangers, I must 
make it up some time hence, by being unmoved when the danger 
is real. 

It would be gratifying to me, to know that this letter was 
received, and how far the discretionary power of communication 
had been, or would be exercised. 

I am Sir, 

Very respectfully, 

Your most ob't serv't, 
JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
Cornland, (near the Yellow Banks,) loth Jan. 1806. 
His Excellency, Th. jEE*ifi;RSON, 
President of the United States. 

(I was really at Woodford, and put this letter into that office.) 
Here, Countrymen, you see I had caught only one side of 
Mr. Burr's scheme; — it had four sides: a side for the Spanish 
minister — a side for enterprising adventurers, (and our govern- 
ment, if it should reach them,) — a side for the multitude — and a 
side for himself. To the Spanish minister,^* he held out that he 
intended to seize New-Orleans and the Western States, and con- 
vert them into the grand fief of the Spanish dominion : To enter- 
prising adventurers, (and to our government, should it reach 
them, ) he held out the conquest of Mexico in favour of the United 
. States : To the multitude a settlement on the Ouachita ; — ^but for 
himself he had in view all the achievements mentioned, (except 
the last) for motives of personal aggrandisement. The object of 
his visit to New-Orleans — the persons with whom he held inter- 
corse there — his connection with Wilkinson, who I knew to be 
in Spanish pay, and with other persons of the same description 
in Kentucky, — united to impose on me the idea, that the plot 
was through Spanish instrumentality, and of course, for Spanish 
purposes. So the Spaniards thought and perhaps still think ; but 
their reasoning was as bad as mine. Those who prove false to 
their own country, will prove equally so to their seducer. 

^* See McCaleb, 55-59. 

71 



To this no answer being received, on the lOth of February, 
I addressed the president a second letter, on the same subject. 

This I put into the post office of Versailles, (Woodford 
county). I kept no memorandum of the days, on which these 
several letters were put into the post office — so shall not venture 
to be positive; but my belief [12] is, that the first was put in one 
or two days after date; and the second, on the day of the date 
or the next day. 

The following is a copy of it. 

Sir, 

SINCE my last to you, I have heard, that a gentleman of this 
country^^ informed General Washington, while he was president, 
of a conspiracy against this country, by the Spaniards with Wil- 
kinson and others. If it is so, it was either received as a private 
letter by general Washington, and so disposed of ; or it is in the 
office of state. 

Certain it is, that the president did not duly appreciate this 
information, or the importance of the subject. 

I have some faint and confused recollection of an appropria- 
tion of money, to enable the president to look into the matter, 
and of seeing a piece from Mr. Ross^® in the Aurora, accounting 
for a sum of money which he received on that ground. 

The act of congress is very obscurely worded and entitled. 

The president went the wrong way to work ; and by doing so, 
alarmed the conspirators and missed his object. A conspicuous 
man, who draws the public eye wherever he moves, ought never 
to be employed in this kind of business.^' 

^^ "From Dr. David Stuart General Washington received his first informa- 
tion concerning Spanish movements in Kentucky." — Lex. Gazette, Dec. 1, 
1806. It is probable, however, that Daviess refers to Thomas Marshall, who 
wrote to General Washington Feb. 12, 1789, giving an account of the memorial 
read by Wilkinson before the convention of 1788. He continued to write to 
Washington on this subject until Sept. 11, 1790 {Liltell, Polit. Transactions 
in Kentucky). 

2' Ross was a senator from Pennsylvania. The Aurora was a Philadelphia 
paper. Wm. Duane was its editor. 

"Probably Wayne is meant. "Wilkinson was aware that he was dis- 
trusted by Washington, and was closely watched by the able, gallant, and 
loyal Wayne." — Green, The Spanish Conspiracy, 291. From Ft. Washington, 
Sept. 22, 1796, Wilkinson writes to Gayoso: "The suspicion of Washington 
is wide awake." — Clark, Proofs, etc., 41. 

72 



You must have remarked Mr. Burr's journey out to this 
country last year. What was he after? To escape persecution? 
that cant be ; because it never followed him out of his own state, 
and he spent the whole of last winter at the seat of government 
without danger.^^ Was it to see the country? No; he did not 
see it. He came to Lexington^^ in haste (not in a hurry,) went 
on to Orleans and that country by water; went with Wilkinson 
past my house on the Ohio;^° at fort Massac stopped and was 
closeted five days with Wilkinson,*^ "to help him arrange his new 
government," as was given out; went on down to Orleans,^^ 
turned, and (I may say) galloped back to Nashville,^^ across 
that great wilderness; then up to Louisville in Kentucky; and 
then across the wilderness of Indiana to St. Louis,^* to see 
Wilkinson again; then back to Levington;^^ and then to see 
[Smith] the senator in Ohio.^® This jaunting added to the 
opinion I hold of that man's turn of character ; and added to the 
circumstances mentioned to you, of a late draft^^ on Spain by 
a high magistrate of this state^^ — having given strong suspicions 
of Mr. Burr, and confirmed those I had of a plot now existing. 

2* See Adams, III, p. 233, for the attitude of the Capitol toward Burr dur- 
ing the winter of 1805-1806. 

^' Burr was in Lexington May 22, 1805, according to the Kentucky Gazette 
of May 28, 1805 — "not interested in the canal nor election, but . . . travel- 
ing for amusement and information." 

'" Burr was not actually with Wilkinson, but overtook him at Fort Massac. 
See McCaleb, The Aaron Burr Conspiracy, 26. 

"According to Adams, III, Burr descended the Cumberland June 6, 1805, 
and left Massac June 10, 1805. Ft. Massac was on the north bank of the 
Ohio below the mouth of the Cumberland. 

32 June 25, 1805.— ^daws, ///. 

'»Aug. 6, ISOS.—Parton, Chap. XXI. 

"Sept. 11, \m5.— Adams, III. 

'^ It is doubtful whether Burr went back to Lexington or not. 

3* John Smith, of Cincinnati, at whose home Burr stayed May 11, 1805, 
on his way westward. Smith resigned from Congress in 1807, lacking only 
one vote of expulsion, because of his connection with Burr. (See Amer. State 
Papers, Misc., No. 238.) 

" "draught" in the original letter. 

^* Probably Sebastian. 

7Z 



The unexpected and unfortunate sickness of Mrs. Daveiss^^ 
has prevented my returning home; and I shall not do it before 
the laist of March. If you have answered my first letter the an- 
swer is gone on to that post office. I have ordered such a paper 
if received to be remitted to Frankfort to*° me. 

I am so anxious to see the defeat of this damnable plot, and 
dread so much its failure in the hands of any common emissary, 
that, inconvenient as it is to me in the extreme to leave home, 
now when I am settling a new place, yet I am heartily willing to 
do it without reward of any kind, the government bearing my 
€xpences. ', ■ 

It is "high time for whoever goes to be on foot, else put it off 
till autumn, when the sickly season down the river is over. If 
I go, I shall start across to St. Louis immediately to see Wilkin- 
son, and then on as fast as possible. [13] 

Let governor Claiborne*^ have no knowledge, or hand con- 
cerning this thing. 

Shew this letter to nobody. Mr. Burr's connections are more 
extensive than any man supposes. 

Unless you are careful and suspicious in the extreme, this 
thing will leak out, and the conspirators countermine all my opera- 
tions, and expose my person and life, if I go into the Spanish 
government. 

If I am honored with an answer let it be to Frankfort. 
JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
February loth, 1806. 

His Excellency | 
Th : Jefferson, j 

'* Philip Caldwell and Daveiss had both sought the hand of Ann Marshall, 
sister of the Chief Justice, and Daveiss had been successful. On the night of 
the ball given Burr, in Frankfort, Caldwell overheard a conversation between 
Daveiss and others, inimical to the administration, which he reported to 
Innis. Innis wrote to Congressman Sandford, who showed the letter to 
Jefferson, whereupon Daveiss was removed from ofifice. See Taylor's Auto- 
biography, in the Durrett Papers, Library of the University of Chicago. 

40 "for" in the original letter. 

*' Claiborne was the American commissioner at the time of the transfer of 
Louisiana. His administration as governor closed in 1816. In 1817 he was 
elected to the Senate. He died Nov. 23, 1817. See Gayarre, Hist, of 
Louisiana. 

74 



With this letter I put into the post office under cover, sealed, 
and directed as the letter, a schedule of the names of suspected 
persons.*^ These I shall by no means make known, except two, 
which are material in your view of the president's course on this 
subject; otherwise, I shall either leave blanks or put down letters 
instead of names. Many of these persons may be innocent. If 
guilty, it is not my purpose to accuse in this place. 

I am sorry, countrymen, that circumstances should have oc- 
curred to draw from me this publication of these letters, which 
every candid reader will believe me sincere in saying, were never 
designed for publicity. They were written with all the anxiety 
and zeal of a young man, who addressed his father upon a point 
touching the family honor or interest. They contain matter of 
advice to the president, and many other inadvertencies which one 
writing less from the heart, would have avoided. 

(I do not wish the reader here to suppose, that I suspected 
his excellency William C. C. Claibourne to be an espaniolized 
American — I did not — nor my caution to the president, did not 
proceed from such a supposition. It was merely owing to the 
unmerciful idea, I had formed of the gentleman's head. He is 
as far as I know, a well disposed person ; and abundantly attached 
to the president, which is certainly a great matter ; but my present 
purpose required a man of sense. 

Good God ! how mortifying to think, that the president of the 
United States, is a man, who should either be so pell'd by a flat- 
terer, or so ignorant of human nature, as to appoint to the most 
important and elevated office in his gift, a man, so devoid of 
every pretension to talents, reading, experience, or any thing but 
admiration of Mr. Jefferson! How far that man has left his 
equals behind — how wonderfully he has overrun and passed 
by men, whose meanest speech or composition he could never 
equal. 

He rose like a rocket, and he'll fall like a stick.) 



On the fifth of March, having yet received no answer from the 
president, I addressed him the following: 

^^ This list was written on a separate sheet of paper, as follows : Brecken- 
ridge, Fowler, Wilkinson, Adair, senator; Smith, do.; Sebastian, the judge Ct. 
of Appeals; Innes, the judge District court; Clay, the lawyer; Burr; Harrison, 
Govr. From the original in the Jefferson Papers, Library of Congress. 

75 



Sir, 

THE post has arrived but brings no letter from you. Can 
it be possible, that my two letters of the loth of January, and 
loth of February, have miscarried? If either has failed, every 
further attempt of mine will be abortive. I pray you inform 
me only of this point, by a letter to me at the Yellow Banks post 
office, without delay; for I am now determined to raise money 
upon my own credit, and pursue my enquiries into this matter — 
confident that if my government will give me no aid, it will [14] 
throw no obstacles in my way. If you deem my information too 
trivial to be noticed by the chief of a great nation, you will surely, 
nevertheless, be just enough to me, to keep invi[o]lably secret, 
till I return from my present pursuit. Every day gives me new 
causes to confide in the justness of my impressions and opinions 
on this matter; and to make it more probable that to this source 
is to be traced the eagerness of the Spaniards for war. 

[This day I have seen the very man,*^ through whom Wilkin- 
son, for a long time, carried on his correspondence with the Span- 
ish government, clandestinely. And he knows of Philip Nolan,** 
the great horse trader, bringing several kegs of dollars to fort 
Washington, for that gentleman.]*^ 

But this gentleman my informant will not suffer his name to 
be mentioned ; so the information cannot assume the shape of legal 
evidence, although it may serve to satisfy your mind. 

The man I knew for many years. His integrity is wholly un- 
questionable. 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 

Now at Frankfort, 5th of March, 1806. 

His Excellency, 
Th : Je;ffe;rson. 

P. S. Let Mr. Madison or Mr. Gallatin direct and frank any 
letters of yours to me on this subject. D. 

*' Probably Joseph Ballinger. 

"Philip Nolan took charge of Wilkinson's affairs in Louisiana during the 
years 1789-1791. He left Louisiana about May of 1800, and was killed the 
ensuing March by Spaniards in the province of Texas. — Wilkinson' s Memoirs, 
II, 119. Wilkinson wrote to Gayoso, Sept. 22, 1796: "Nolan is a child of 
my own raising and is firm in his attachment to Spain." — Clark, Proofs, 42. 

" [ ] is underscored in the pamphlet from which the reprint is made. 

76 



On the 27th of that month I received from the president the 
following letter which is altogether in his own hand writing :*® 

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, '06 

Sir, 

[YOUR letter of January 10 came safely to hand a week 
ago.]*'^ According to your permission it has been communicated 
to Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin. I have also communicated it 
to general Dearborne,*® because one of the persons named by 
you is particularly under his observation ; so far it was necessary 
and not further. I will be responsible for its secrecy. The in- 
formation is so important that it is my duty to request a full 
communication of every thing known or heard by you relating 
to it, and particularly of the names of all persons whether en- 
gaged in the combination, or witnesses to any part of it, at the 
same time I pledge myself to you that it 'shall be known no further 
than it now is, until it shall become necessary to place them in 
the hands of the law ; and that even then no unnecessary com- 
munication shall be made of the channel through which we receive 
our information. 

You will be sensible that the names are pecularly important 
to prevent a misplacing of our confidence either in the investi- 
gation of this subject particularly, or in the general trust of public 
affairs. In hopes of hearing from you without delay, I pray you 
to accept my salutations and assurances of great respect. 
Mr. Daveiss. Th : JEFFERSON. 

On the next day I addressed the president the following. 

Sir, 

Your letter of Feb. 15 came to hand this morning, some- 
what delay [15 Jed by going to Hartford instead of Breckenridge 
court house, which stands on the post road leading by the Yellow 
Bank's post office, and somewhat by having to return here, where 
the court still detains me. I was much obliged by the communi- 
cation of it, as I was very apprehensive about my letters. You 

^* This letter and the one preceding are bracketed in the original pamphlet 
and marked [Note] "93." 

*' [ ] underscored in original pamphlet. 

"General Dearborn was appointed Secretary of War by Jefferson in 1801. 
He was not a strong man, and was supposed to be in the toils of Wilkinson. 

77 



have ere this two others from me, one of the loth of February, 
put into the post office at Woodford (Versailles) and another of 
5th March, put into the office here under cover to col. Sanford.*^ 
These anticipate in some degree your enquiries. With mine of 
10 Feb. I have sent under blank cover a schedule of the names 
of suspected persons; but there I omitted one; [Dayton] ^'^ the 
speaker, [.] I am afraid, may be, I put in one who is innocent, 
[a lawyer] ^^ of Lexington, and left out [a doctor] of that place 
improperly. But I'll soon know all about it without suspecting. 
At date of my last I had learned much new matter on this sub- 
ject: I now know more; and as you desire a full and free com- 
munication I shall proceed without the least apprehension of a 
disclosure, giving you full permission whenever you find it need- 
ful to give up my name, warning me at the same time thereof. 
[The man alluded to in my last, through whom Wilkinson carried 
on his correspondence with the Spanish government would not 
let me give up his name ; he is a man of as high standing for in- 
tegrity, as any other in the world. The correspondence was ad- 
dressed to the Secretary, whose plain name stripped of all titles 
is Gilbert Leonard,^^ the son of a shoe-maker, who by his great 
talents raised himself to so high a function. 

The plot began between Wilkinson and Governor Me[i]ro.^* 
Owings^^ who was killed coming up the river, had $6000 of Wil- 
kinson's money, and seven thousand dollars was shipped to the 
port of Philadelphia. Nolan the great horse trader brought sev- 
eral keggs of dollars to Fort Washington^^ for him; and in the 

^'Thomas Sandford was born in 1762, in Westmoreland County, Virginia.. 
He came to Kentucky in 1792, settling back of Covington. In 1799 he was 
the only member from Campbell County to the Second Constitutional Con- 
vention of the State. He was several times elected to the Legislature and 
served as a member of Congress 1803-1807. He was drowned in the Ohio 
River Dec. 10, 1808. — See Biog. Dictionary of Kentucky. For his connection 
with Daveiss, see Note 39. 

^''All bracketed names were omitted in the pamphlet, and are supplied 
from the original letters. 

*' Clay. See note 42. 

*^See Deposition of Gilberto Leonard, Wilkinson's Memoirs, Vol. 11^ 
p. 223. 

" Miro was governor of Louisiana 1784-1791. For his connection 
with Wilkinson, cf. Gayarre, "Hist, of La. — The Spanish Domination, 194fF." 

" Owens. See Depositions of Bouligny and Langlois, in Clark, Proof s^. 
appendix 22. 

" Cincinnati. 

78 



hearing of one of my informants, who he was then very fond of, 
he used to say that Governor Me[i]ro and him had agreed to 
lay up a few thousand dollars for a time of need, and this was 
the first of that money, alluding to the keggs. — As to the two 
first sums he told another gentleman [Dr Ridgely] that he was 
thought by Wayne and his party to be very poor, but he was not, 
for he had $I3CXX). This was before the shipment of it from 
Orleans. 

I find that in the convention of 1788 at Danville, he (Wilkin- 
son) rose and proposed a separation and union with Spain to 
that body,]^^ (this was the convention who proposed a separa- 
tion) and [John Brown] the senator rose, and in a short speech, 
supported Wilkinson, saying, "that he had it from the highest 
"authority, that if we would join Spain, we might have anything 
"we pleased, and any kind of trade we wanted." Wilkinson then 
read almost a quire of paper, which he called a letter, written by 
him to the Governor at Orleans f^ and read the Governor's an- 
swer, to corroborate what he and [Brown] had said; but it was 
so badly received, that it was dropped, and its being spoken of 
since, is much resented by its friends, as an imputation on them. 
[Col. Joe Crockett the Marshal] is my informant, and I am 
going to get the journals of that body, to copy off the names of 
the members, to be used when necessary. 

[Brown] was the first mover of this business here, and wrote 
many letters to the influential men here, to draw them into the 
measure. When he offered for congress winter before last, I 
published this, and offered that my fortune should stand respon- 
sible, if it was slander, and offered to prove his treasonable cor- 
respondence with Gardoque [i] for this purpose. [15] One of the 
members opposed to [Brown], [Grundy] ^^ came to me to know 
if he might give up my name — I gave him leave, and he went 
all over town and told it — but, dont be startled [Brown] did not 
loose one vote by it ; nor was I ever called on. 

This was very astonishing, and filled me with the utmost con- 
cern. How wonderfully numerous the friends or neutrals of this 
infernal scheme ! ! ! 

^^ [ ] underscored. See note 45. 

" See W. R. Shepherd: "Wilkinson and the Spanish Conspiracy." — 
Amer. Hist. Rev., Vol. IX, 490 et seq., for quotations from this memorial. 

«^ Grundy had studied law in the office of George Nicholas at the same 
time as Daveiss. 

79 



You will see what a hurricane they will blow up around my 
ears when I come back. 

Judge Sebastian, of our Court of Appeals, is the man who 
drew lately on Spain for his pension. Mr. [Wilkins] saw the 
draft, and knows his hand well. It was drawn in favor of John A. 
Seitz,^^ of Lexington, and payable to him. Seitz died there, and 
this paper was in his pocket book, and is still there, and [Wilkins] 
will by draft order its delivery to me when I get there. [Adair] 
and [Burr] are pensioned without doubt. I fully expect some 
are the friends of these traitors, who are not pensioned, and sev- 
eral such persons are named to you heretofore. 

Alas ! that men so highly raised by their country in trust and 
honor should thus betray her.^° 

Whenever the court is over, (which I expect tomorrow,) I 
will go on my journey. I have not yet tried to raise money, but 
fully expect I can do it. Small difficulties are no obstacles 
with me. 

Dont write to me while I am gone anywhere, but at Cornland, 
and let Mr. Gallatin direct and frank the letters — my brother 
John Daveiss®^ will open these, and make known their contents 
to me in a language unintelligible by others. You may rely im- 
plicitly on this man's secrecy. Write directly in one event, that 
is, if you find I am suspected, write it instantly to Doctor [James] 
Speed, of Natchez, who is my old and very intimate friend. 

If I am suspected, the chances of my getting back are very 
slender. 

I observe that the marquis Cassacalvo®^ and all the Spanish 
officers are prohibited from crossing the lines. It might be well, 
if reasons of state would permit, to relax this, so as to allow that 
gentleman to come to Natchez. I would much rather see him 
there, than go into the Spanish government to do it ; and at Or- 
leans [James Brown] would give him warning of me immediately. 

"See deposition of Charles Wilkins, Anter. State Papers, MiscelL, p. 924. 

•'Marked "Note 95" in margin. 

•' Some of his descendants live in Kentucky to-day. 

"The Marques de Casa Calvo acted as military governor of Louisiana 
after the death of Gayoso (1799-1801), and as commissioner along with 
Salcedo to deliver the province of Louisiana to France. 



8o 



I wish to see one [Powers,]®^ below Orleans. He commanded 
the boat which was searched by secretary Steele®* at Natchez, 
some years ago. He says, had Steele looked into a bucket on the 
top of the boat, containing old tobacco, he would have found 
papers enough to hang Wilkinson and himself. 

I feel greatly strengthened by having the support of govern- 
ment, and freely apologize for any expressions of despondency 
or doubt on that subject in my last letter. 

I am Sir, 

Very respectfully, 

JOSEPH H. DAVEISS. 
March 28, 1806. 
Mr. JlJFlfERSON. 



And on the succeeding day I addressed another in these 
words. 

Sir, 

I intended, when I wrote my letter yesterday, to write 
you no more until my return, unless something new, and re- 
quiring immediate communi[ 17] cation should occur, but my mem- 
ory continues to recall circumstances which I deem it proper to 
make known to you. 

It came to my knowledge a good while ago, that $100,000 
had been distributed at Orleans for the purpose of rewarding 
the friends to good government in this country. This was told 
me by a very exalted officer under you in this country. I asked 
him why he had kept this secret from government ? He answered, 
I have no doubt candidly, that he deemed the business long since 
dead, and the scheme miscarried. He had no hand in the thing 
himself. He forbad my disclosure ; but the utmost effect of such 
injunctions is to conceal the name of the informant.®^ 



"Thomas Power, an Englishman by birth, naturalized a Spanish subject. 
He was sent as emissary to Wilkinson by Carondelet (Green-5^aM. Conspir., 
343, 350). See deposition of Elisha Winters, Amer. State Papers, MiscelL, 
Vol. II, p. 94. 

"Possibly John Steele, of Pennsylvania, who, in 1796 became lieutenant 
in the Third Infantry. Cf. Heitman, I, 919. 

*'This informant was James Morrison. See note 12. See Morrison's let- 
ter to Wilkinson in the Durrett Papers. 

81 



Curse such secrets, they point to the destruction of the whole 
community. 

Perhaps you are surprised at my speaking, in the other letter, 
so highly of the integrity of him, through whom general Wilkin- 
son so long carried on his correspondence with Spain.''*' I asked 
him to explain it. — He said he thought the thing at that time a 
mere fetch of Wilkinson's to get money j**^ and had no idea of 
any serious result from it; and besides, he himself had no sort 
of participation in it, but only afforded conveyance for the letters. 

It was a bad excuse ; but might be deemed by many an honest 
man, a good one. 

Some years ago, H. [John Hollingsworth] the son of [Hol- 
lingsworth,] (of Baltimore) came to an intimate friend [Charles 
W] and relation of his, and told him that he (H.) had been 
offered $2000 for his trouble in circulating $6000; and asked 
[W] if*^ he would take a part of it. [W] enquired what was 
the object in circulating the $6,000, and was told it was to make 
friends to the king of Spain, who should mark public tone and 
report it. [Wilkins] told him to have nothing at all to do with it. 

A day or two before [Wilkins] knew that judge Sebastian 
had been there. How I deplore this man's guilt ! He was friendly 
to me. 

I tremble for two men I have much esteemed. God grant I 
may not find their names among such vile conspirators. 

A little circumstance happened, when Burr was here, which 
looks small, but it struck me as worthy of much regard. I had 
it from the hon. John Rowan,^^ the secretary of state, a man of 
incorruptible integrity; and with whom I have been intimate 
since ever we were boys ; and to whom I told my whole views 
about the beginning of this month, when I had dispaired a little 
of any letter from you. It is this : — When Burr was here last, 
he spent much of his time at F's [Adair's] who lived in town. 
F. [Adair] came over to Mr. Rowan's and mentioned to him, 

" [ ] underscored and marked "Note 98" in original pamphlet. 

" It is a well-known fact that Wilkinson was always in financial difficulties. 

" "How" in the original letter. 

•'Born in Pennsylvania, 1773. Came to Louisville 1783. Studied law, 
and admitted to the bar at Lexington 1795. Member of Constitutional Con- 
vention 1799. Secretary of State 1804; in Congress 1806. Died in 1843 at 
Louisville. 

82 



that he would be glad if he [Mr. R.] would come over to his 
house, that he might introduce him to Burr. — Mr. Rowan gave 
some polite answer, but could not then go. "I should be glad 
[if] you could come to my house to see him," said F. [Adair] 
"for he is a very diffident man in company." 

You know that young Mr. Burr has mixed but little with the 
world. "I wonder what he can be after," said F. [Adair] I 
can't tell, said Mr. Rowan. Mr. Rowan did not call, being pre- 
vented by his family sickness and other matters; but he never 
could understand the thing until I spoke with him. 

F. [Adair] told [Dr Ridgely] of his first going down to Or- 
leans, and his friends writing to him to be sure and bring no let- 
ters from Wilkinson ;^° and when there, to say nothing for him 
or against him. But a letter is too small to write [ i8] these things, 
so I'll drop it until I return, when I can see you or write at leisure. 

[I said, in May^^ last, that many knew of these treasonable 
doings who had no pensions. It may turn out that [Innis] and 
[Breckenridge] are of these. I have no doubt the first knew of 
all Wilkinson's doings, and I have heard but dare not enquire 
now, that [he] sent the murderers of Owings to Wilkinson, at 
Fort Washington. — The second, I am confident, knew well of the 
treason at first. I don't know how it is lately. 

He knew all about the $100,000.]^^ 

Excuse me for suggesting one point to you and your minister 
— that is : never alter your countenance towards any of these men. 
If you do, and they return and find me gone, they'll suspect in a 
moment what's the matter. 

Yours very respectfully, 
March 29th, 1806. JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 

Mr. Jefi'ERSOn. 



These two letters [I] enclosed under, (I believe) one cover, 
addressed to Mr. Gallatin, and put them into the Frankfort post 
office. The president does not acknowledge them; but as there 
was no robbing or destruction of the mail about this time, and as 

" However, Burr did have letters from Wilkinson. 
71 "My" in the original letter. 

" [ ] underscored and marked "Note 96" in margin of pamphlet. 

83 



I have not for many years heard of a letter to one of the depart- 
ments f aiHng ; I have no doubt they went safe. 

Early in this month I had engaged captain William Woolfolk, 
of Woodford, a man on whom I could place perfect reliance in 
every respect, to share with me the fatigues and fate of this jour- 
ney to Natchez, New Orleans, and Pensicola, from which place, 
we intended to steer our way through the woods to Tennessee. 
We had appointed to meet at New Madrid, by (I think) the 20th 
of May — (But I kept no notes or journals, never expecting I 
should need to refer to such documents.) It was agreed between 
us, that which ever arrived first at New Madrid, should wait one 
or two days for the other, after the time first appointed ; and then 
leave a letter for the delinquent and proceed. 

On my way home I engaged my passage in Mr. Gibson's boat, 
then descending the Rowling fork, and bound for St. Louis, which 
was to touch for me at my house. 

I arrived home on the 20th of April, having been absent six 
months [weeks?] complete. I did not know in what hour the boat 
would arrive ; and in this situation I had only one day to set my 
house in order, before I had to depart on the most long, and prob- 
ably perilous journey I had ever undertaken. When I came to pack 
up my clothing, &c. I discovered that since I had left Frankfort, 
I had lost my bank notes to the amount of two hundred and odd 
dollars ; and now had but $72 left. This was very discouraging ; 
but being personally known to a merchant of capital at St. Louis, 
one at Natchez, and several at New Orleans, I did not despair 
of finding sufficient means wherewith to pursue my enquiries. 

All this time not a line from the president — I addressed him 
the following letter.'^^ 

" Daveiss wrote another letter to Jefferson April 5, 1806, which is omitted 

from the pamphlet, and reads as follows: 

Sir, 

In my last, I mentioned Dr. Speed of Natchez as a person to whom you 

might confide any letter for me. — He is gone to New Orleans. 

Samuel Postlethwait, merchant of Natchez I would name in his place: 
but don't let your hand or name appear on, or in the cover. If you know the 
Govr very intimately, he might afford a more elegible conveyance. 

One thing I omitted to suggest to you tho no doubt it has occurred to 
you 'ere this — that is, the propriety of Gen. Dearborne & the ministers sus- 
pending all enquiry relative to the subject of my letters until I return. A con- 
trary course might defeat all my efforts and much expose my person." 

84 



Sir, 

BEFORE the boat arrives which is to carry me to St. 
Louis, and [19] which I hourly expect, I think it better to advise 
you of a little circumstance, which has lately come to my knowl- 
edge, than attempt to retain it in my memory till my return. 

I must previously observe, that since I first wrote you, I have 
continually noted those things to you which could make no figure 
as legal evidence as well as those which might be made to assume 
that shape: — because in the present state of this matter it seems 
to me very important to warn you of all the sources from which 
information might be expected: otherwise, many things might 
escape your remark which would receive your attention, had you 
known their connection with the main subject. 

The thing first alluded to, is this: [Genl. Jackson] of Ten- 
nessee, lately wrote [Mr. Cuthbert Banks] of Lexington, a let- 
ter, full of compliments and polite nothings; and in it enclosed 
a paper without signature or date; and as [Mr. Banks] thought 
undoubtedly in the hand writing of Mr. Burr; which paper was 
so abstrucely worded and indicted that Mr. [Banks] could not 
comprehend distinctly its meaning; but it concluded with words 
in effect as follows : "that Mr. Burr would eventually prove to be 
the saviour of this Western country." Mr, [Banks] understood 
the letter and [its] contents, as meant to draw him into a corre- 
spondence and further explanation ; but he was so distressed at 
it, that he threw them into the fire. A gentleman to whom he 
mentioned the subject in Lexington, told me of it very privately. 
I went to [Banks] and mentioned the matter to him, telling him 
that I would know Mr. Burr's hand writing; but he said he had 
burnt the paper, and would forever despise Burr, from his con- 
fidence that he wrote it, though he did not well know his hand 
writing. He requested me not to converse about it, which I had 
more reasons than one for avoiding. 

Mr. [Banks] is wholly ignorant of my object. I wish I could 
have ventured to let him know it, and get the correspondence con- 
tinued. 

I should like to know something more about the doings of 
this saviour of ours. 

[If you chance to hear anything about a captain Collins'^* (of 

^*See deposition of Daniel Clark: Memoirs of Wilkinson, Appendix No. 5. 

85 



Florida) attend to it. This man has been a very active agent for 
Wilkinson. He carried the $7000 to Philadelphia for Wilkinson ; 
and is the man he sent as a spy round by Canada; and a long 
story was told about his being captured by the Indians, and the 
many hardships he suffered. I think it likely you'l find some 
report of Wilkinson's on the subject in the war office, unless it 
was burned. But from the information I have received from a 
gentleman, who I know does not go on light conjectures, I fully 
believe this man was sent to col. England, of Detroit, on a very 
friendly mission; [Wilkinson] being at that time in the pay of 
Great Britain. If Newman^^ is living in the southward, as is said, 
I have no doubt it may be proved that Wilkinson is the man who 
sent him to the Indians, to warn them of the approach of Wayne's 
army.]^** 

I have caused a note to be inserted in one of the Louisville 
Gazettes, that you have removed me from office. This will render 
quite unsuspicious the dissatisfaction which I may occasionally 
betray towards the government of my country. No one will think 
it worth while to ask the administration any thing about it ; but 
lest they should, and I be rendered very suspicious by your an- 
swer, I have enclosed a letter of resignation to Mr. Madison,'^^ 
which may form a pointed answer to the enquiry. I design [20] 
this letter to remain in your hands, and not be filed in the office 
of state, unless you deem it proper. For I did not intend to resign, 
till I had finished the revenue cases commenced by me. 

In embarking in such a project, I feel very deeply the want of 
your sanction : it may be contrary to the reasons of state ; it may 
be contrary to your judgment, and to your views. But still I 
feel a confident hope, that it must suit the government to be fully 
advised in this matter. I have but little expectation of getting 
possession of evidence, which can be used judicially; but it is 

'^ In an article by Wood, copied from the Western World, in the Palladium 
of July 31, 1806, it is intimated that Newman deserted from the American 
army to the Indians at Wilkinson's instigation. Newman was also very in- 
timate with Power and lived at Natchez with him. 

'• [ ] underscored and marked "Note 97" in margin of pamphlet. 

" This letter is in the private correspondence of Jefferson in the Library 
of Congress. 

86 



a great point in my view, to shew you satisfactorily how this mat- 
ter stands. 

Very respectfully, your most ob't: servant, 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
Cornland, near Yellow Banks, 

April 2 1 St, 1806. 
His Excellency, 

Th : Jei^pkrson, President. 



That evening the boat came and left word for me to come on 
board, at the Yellow Banks (two miles off) by day break next 
morning, which I did ; leaving my farm without any overseer. 

About a fortnight after my departure, captain Woolfolk called 
at my house, agreeable to my directions, and took the accoutre- 
ments for a pack horse, which I had prepared, and proceeded to 
New Madrid, where having waited and written agreeable to 
promise, he continued his voyage. 

I arrived at St. Louis about the seventh day of May (I be- 
lieve) and almost immediately after my arrival acquired the in- 
formation I desired. It is not material for the public to know 
this, — nor the course I intended to pursue for the developement 
of this conspiracy. You may be sure one part of it was to conceal 
the true object and design of my researches from others. 

I acknowledge I felt a repugnance to this circumstance. My 
judgment wholly supported me — for my country was in question ; 
but my feelings, at times, so objected to it, that I could not for- 
bear suggesting it as a doubt to two gentlemen, with whom I con- 
versed unreservedly. Their opinions supported my own. 

The day after I arrived, I understood that Mr. Ellicott's 
journal was in town; and I lost no time in getting it, to see what 
he said of the Spanish intrigues in 1797-8. It would be very de- 
sirable to transcribe his words exactly here; but the only copy 
of the book which I know of is at Lexington, one hundred and 
seventy miles from this place; nor did I take any notes of pages 
and words when I saw it ; but the substance of the matter is this. 

Mr. Ellicott, while running our line, intercepted a correspond- 
ence, in which the treasonable and secret intelligence held by 
sundry of citizens with the Spanish government is exhibited.'^* 

"See pp. 151, 152 of this pamphlet. 

87 



This, he says, he communicated to the office of state; and the 
names of the Americans concerned. He afterwards sets forth 
some intercepted papers, showing Mr. Hutche[i]ns^^ (I think) to 
be in pay of Britain, & copies the documents — and afterwards 
adds, that these evidences were not more conclusive, as to Hutch- 
e[i]ns, than the intercepted correspondence was, as to the persons 
engaged in the Spanish intrigues. [21] 

Upon reading this, I was smitten with the utmost chagrin and 
disgust, at the insincere, unmanly, and ignoble behaviour of the 
president towards me. Can there be a case in which expressions 
of intemperance and invective would be more excusable than this ? 
Only reflect on our respective situations. A citizen leaving his 
own house with all the loss which can attend a farmer's absence 
from home in the spring season, at his own expence, and at all 
the personal risque and hazard which may await such a journey, 
in such a climate and season, and on such a business— all this 
upon the privity of the president, and for the sole purpose of 
averting a mortal blow aimed at our government and country — 
an undertaking through which no success could be expected, but 
through the use of information previously had; — the president 
all this time possessed of important and authentic intelligence, 
which might make the task of investigation perfectly safe, and 
almost insure its success: — Yet what is his course? — He sets 
snugly in the corner of his cabinet, wrapped up in his cloak of 
little cunning prudent reserve, and says to himself "I'm deter- 
mined to stand aloof from this scrape, — let the young man go on — 
if any good comes of it — well : but if he gets his throat cut, or 
is sent to the mines by governor Folke,^° why I'm sure he can't 
say its my fault, — I didn't encourage him, — he has nothing to 
show from me ; — if there's a harvest, I'll reap it ; — but if untimely 
storms destroy the crop, I'll risque no loss." 

Your policy, sir, is indeed very fine, very characteristic: but 
oh, how despicable — how unlike the mighty chief we would expect 
to find at the head of this great and rising nation ! 

Was I an improper person ? Was it too soon ? Was I adopt- 
ing an improper course? Then why not in a candid and manly 
manner desire me not to proceed into this "premature attempt?" 

"See EUicot's Journal, p. 194. 

'"Vizenti Folch, commandant of West Florida. 

88 



Dont say I started too soon for your countermand or informa- 
tion. You wrote not one line, which, by staying longer, I could 
have received. 

The court at St. Louis being in session, I was called upon to 
attend some important causes, which detained me there several 
days. I was very unhappy about captain Woolfolk: — I wrote 
him to New Madrid; but it was too late. After I got through 
my court business, I returned home. The season for planting 
was over; and untoward class of events, had prevented the put- 
ting in my crop — I made none last year. The public is not inter- 
ested in knowing the train of private misfortunes I have suffered, 
by reason of this. My neighbors know them. 

When at St. Louis, a little conversation took place with general 
Wilkinson, which I will detail to you exactly, as I will upon my 
oath, if I am ever called upon. I will promise to you, that I never 
observed a greater apparent admiration in one man for another, 
than the general manifested for Mr. Burr; and among other 
things mentioned several times Mr. Burr's impenetrable secrecy. 
One day I was (as I well recollect) enquiring about lieutenant 
Pike's tour up the Mississippi;^^ and it appears to me that the 
general showed me a sketch of the map of that river, by Mr. Pike. 
After which he took out a map of the country of New Mexico, 
which I think was in manuscript; and after some conversation 
about it, tapping it with his finger, told me in a low and very sig- 
nificant tone and manner, "that had Burr been president, we would 
have had all this country before now." This I remarked particu- 
larly, and it has appeared to me a very explanatory circumstance 
relative to that man's participation in this plot. 

Upon my return home, I found no letter for me in the post 
office. [22] 

The want of all communication from the president, induced 
me to fear, that either my letters or his had been intercepted; 
for I could not believe it possible, that he had not written to me. 
This was much enforced by a circumstance that took place at 
St. Louis the day I left it. On that day, before I took leave of 
governor Wilkinson, he handed me an anonymous letter, received 
from Frankfort, by yesterday's mail, telling the governor to be- 
ware of me ; for I intended to extract from him his secrets about 

"F. X. Martin, Hist, of La., Vol. II, p. 225. 

89 



his connection with the Spaniards. I read the letter partly, closed 
and handed it back to him, observing, that I was now in the hour 
of my departure, and he knew all the conversation that had taken 
place between us since we met,, not a word of which was on such 
a subject. He laughed very much at the idea of his connection 
with the Spaniards; but I could clearly discern through the veil 
of his laughter, that he was thoroughly alarmed. The writer of 
the letter had wholly mistaken my purposes, though he had a gen- 
eral idea of what I was after. 

The letter had been put into the Frankfort post office the 2Jst 
of April. The writer of it thinks I don't know who he is. 

In July I went to the court at Frankfort, and I had the pleasure 
to meet captain Woolfolk, who had just returned, and had been 
as far as New Orleans to fall in with me. I desired to know his 
expences, that I might reimburse them ; but he would not hear 
of it — so we both agreed to set down our disbursements to the 
account of profit and loss. 

Mr. James Dardis, a respectable merchant of Knoxville, was 
here, attending a law suit of himself and others, for the Goose 
creek salt works. When he was going, I put into his hand a 
letter to the president under cover endorsed to Mr. Gallatin, 
which he assured me he would most carefully deposit in the post 
office at Knoxville, as soon as he should arrive. I have the most 
perfect confidence that he did so, and that it went safe, though it 
is not acknowledged. It was as follows : 

Sir, 

I returned the 3d June, since which time I have not ven- 
tured to write you by mail, suspecting that an interception had 
already taken place, and have waited till now, for a private con- 
veyance across the mountains. 

I declined all attempts at the execution of my first plan, being 
fully informed of the report to the department of state, made by 
Mr. Ellicott, of the whole matter as it then stood, previous to my 
reaching the point of my first destination. 

I took it for granted, that whenever you thought it material 
to public interest, that an enquiry should be made into this mat- 
ter, you would possess the agent employed therein, with every 
possible information in your power, as by that measure alone, 
could success be fairly expected. And I felt a violent repugnance 

90 



to the instrumentality of any suspected character, if the object 
could be otherwise attained. 

The present unacknowledged state of all my letters, except the 
first, gives me confirmation in my views of this subject, and reason 
to approve my discontinuance of all further efforts on this mat- 
ter, not sanctioned by the express commands of my government. 

My duty, however, as a citizen, to you, is not fulfilled until I 
tell you, that I have it from an authority which I cannot dis- 
regard, that the present project is not the original one, but a new 
scheme engrafted on it. Its outlines are: To cause a revolt of 
the Spanish provinces, [23] and a severance of all the western 
states and territories from the Union — to coalesce and form one 
government — to purchase great quantities of land in the Spanish 
settlements, to ensure the desired influence when the crisis comes. 
That in the scheme are connected all those named to you (except 
[Breckenridge] ) and [Govr. Bloomfield]. The [Van Ness's] 
Burr's relations in New Orleans and St. Lewis, the [Browns] and 
[Edw. Livingston, Gen. Massy of Ohio] and many others among 
whom was named [Genl. Smith] of Baltimore, whose present 
elevation, wealth, and character, forbids belief of such a connec- 
tion on his part. 

I have undoubted evidence of [Innis'] connection in the orig- 
inal scheme. 

The [lawyer] of Lexington, who I named to you, is, I believe 
wholly innocent. [Breckenridge] was not here at the original 
scheme, so had no hand in it. Its progress after he came here 
was all known to him. 

This closes the communication I am bound to make to you; 
and in doing which, justice to myself commands me to say, that 
I have named no man to you with whom I am personally on bad 
terms, except [John Brown], and that [I must further observe] 
I have often doubted whether the whole of this matter might not 
be a mere swindling trick, played off on the Spaniards by our 
countrymen. 

Every further enquiry I make will be to fortify myself against 
the malice of these men, if it reaches their ears that I have taken 
concern in the matter. It is a very consequential thing to incur 
the inveterate malice of the [judges in all the highest courts of the 
land and the power of the bar.]^^ And the prospect of this 

** Bracketed portion is omitted in the pamphlet. 

91 



danger is no how lessened by the recollection, that some indi- 
viduals have been already ruined in this way and on account of 
this very business. I am, Sir, 

Very respectfully, 

Your most obedient servant, 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
Now at Frankfort, 14th July, 1806. 



I suspect this letter offended the president. He saw that I 
now understood him ; and I most faithfully believe that he hates 
every man on earth, who he thinks fully understands him. 

Being determined to write the president no more, after such 
disrespect as had been shown me, on the 14th of August I wrote 
the secretary of state the following letter. 

Sir, 

THIS is a private letter. I have addressed seven*^' let- 
ters to the president ; the last five under covers directed to Mr> 
Gallatin, with whom I stand so connected by official duty, that 
letters directed to him by me, would excite no particular remark. 

The first letter has been answered by the president; — all the 
rest remain unacknowledged. This circumstance, for which I 
am unable to account, seems to render indelicate a further con- 
tinuance of that correspondence. Indeed it might equally seem 
to make it improper to address you even by private letter; but 
when the welfare of the community is in question, I will not be 
ruled by any punctilio or ettiquette. [24] 

I take it for granted you have seen all my former letters to the 
president. 

The subject of the present conspiracy is spoken of in secrecy 

by many persons ®* is active, taking care, however, to 

clothe his doings in great secrecy. He made an attempt lately 
on a young gentleman which failed; he took care to throw out 
only shreds of the subject; but such, as with the matter I now 
possess, would satisfy any enquirer of his participation in the plot. 

A war with Spain is the first step. That is said by him and 

* // ought to have been eight; / stated the number from memory. — Author. 
*' Note in original pamphlet by Daveiss. 
** Possibly Davis Floyd. 

92 



others concerned, to be now inevitable. I think it very important 
to warn you of this, as it shows you the different influences which 
will combat your pacific views. The Mexican provinces, and the 
American possessions on the Mississippi, and the Floridas, are in 
view. I am unable to collect the particulars definitely. I can 
only come at an outline ; and even so much it will be useful for 

you to know. These countries are to be a kingdom ®^ 

has said that he knows who is to be the monarch. It is neither 
Wilkinson nor Burr. When I heard this, Moreau instantly oc- 
curred to my mind : and I have heard this day, that he is to be 
here this fall, and go down by way of Orleans, and round to 
Philadelphia. 

I have the most perfect persuasion, that his business is within 
this scheme. 

A war with Spain is inevitable — then our western country is 
called on for volunteers or drafted militia. These can be in- 
fluenced into the proper course by their officers, Wilkinson, Burr, 

Moreau,®** and doubtless ^^ himself. So when they get 

their army right they can proceed to their ulterior purposes. 

No doubt all the western waters are calculated on, as falling 
in with the power possessing the mouths of those waters. This 
is the best sketch of the affair I can collect, no doubt defective, 
and very probably in some degree incorrect 

I am sorry that in my last letter to the president, that I ex- 
culpated certain characters. One of them is no doubt in this 
business. I am continually shocked and astonished to find almost 
daily, new and additional information of the extensiveness of this 
poison among our young men. The main attempt has been made 

at our young men of parts. I am convinced *® expects 

the crisis is near at hand. It is taken for granted that the presi- 
dent will make him a general in case of a war — an office for 
which be is well qualified, where his head and heart are right. 

From the information I have received, I am convinced you 
will upon an emergency find the settlement at Orleans perfectly 
rotten. There is no true American blood there. 

"Wilkins? 

** The well known French general, who was regarded with suspicion while 
in this country. 

" Probably Jackson. 
'* Probably Jackson. 

93 



I have obtained very conclusive information as to *** 

but as I suppose he is to be inactive, except with his head, it may- 
do to let you know of his doings at another time. I don't know 
how far he is into the present scheme. 

A new press®" is opened at Frankfort, some of the papers you 
have probably seen. I know not what may be the information of 
these men. I have been suspected to be a mover of this paper ; 
but I give you my word of honor, I have no hand whatever in it, 
nor is any of their information drawn from me. They are in- 
correct in some circumstances ; and I observe they say that they 
know the present state of the conspiracy — 'but I doubt it. [25 J 

This paper, however, has fully sounded public mind on the 
main subject; and I am happy to state, that it is unequivocably 
on the patriotic side. 

I should have gone to the city of Washington, to see the ex- 
ecutive upon this subject, and make known all that I have heard, 
concerning which I have not already written ; but from the course 
my correspondence took, I could not put myself voluntarily in a 
situation so unpleasant as that in which I should have been at 
Washington, independent of the appearance it would have car- 
ried of seeming desirous of prying into the secrets of state. It is 
possible that the president might have known that my politics 
were of the federal kind, on main questions, and have suffered 
himself to be influenced by it: Yet I cannot suppose, while con- 
gress was sitting, that there could have been any difficulty of 
acquiring such information of my character, as to satisfy him, 
that no diminution of confidence, at least on a subject of this 
nature, should be attached to the circumstance of my politics. 

A certain very wealthy Frenchman at New Orleans®^ is, I am 
informed, a prime mover of this business. 

I have no wish to draw you into any correspondence. It is 
my duty, as a citizen, to support my government in a matter of 
this nature, and to communicate all I may hear or know about it : 

** Innis? 

^"The "Western World," Vol. I, No. 1, appeared in Frankfort, Monday, 
July 7, 1806. The editors were Wood and Street, and it was printed by 
Hunter. 

" Probably Belle Chasse. 

94 



of this I am determined to acquit myself, no matter what regard 
the government may give it. 

I have the honor to be, 
Your's respectfully 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
Cornland, near Breckinridge court house, 14th August, 1806. 
The Hon. Jamais Madison. 



Reader, I take great pleasure in saying, that my opinion as to 
the patriotism at Orleans, was wholly erroneous. The event 
shews my information to have been altogether incorrect. 

This letter was answered by Mr. Madison as follows. 

VIRGINIA, September i8th, 1806. 
Sir, 

YOUR letter of the 14th ultimo has come duly to hand, 
and will receive the confidential attention which is due to the na- 
ture of its contents and motives which dictated them. The presi- 
dent to whom it has been communicated charges me with the en- 
closed letter, in which the delay in answering your late letters is 
explained. 

I remain sir, very respectfully 
Your most ob't. servant 

JAMES MADISON. 



The president's letter enclosed is as follows.^- 

MONTICELLO, Sep. 12, '06. 
Sir, 

YOUR letter of Aug. 14, has been received. The first of 
Jan. 10, was acknowledged in mine of Feb. 15. After that, those 
of Feb. 10, March 5, April 5, and 21, came in due time. As their 
matter did not require answer, their acknowledgment was post- 
poned to avoid the [26] suspicions of which you seemed to be 
aware, as well as to wait your return from the journey you had 
undertaken. The acknowledgments of their receipts is now 
therefore made to relieve you from any anxiety respecting their 
safety ; and you may rely upon the most inviolable secrecy as to 

*^This letter is bracketed and marked "Note 95" in margin of pamphlet. 

95 



the past any future communications you may think proper to 
make. Your letters are not filed in the offices ; but will be kept 
among my private papers. 

Accept my salutations and assurances of respect, 
J. H. Dav^iss, Esq. Th. JEFFERSON. 

Good God! was ever anything so astonishing! so unaccount- 
able ! That in reply to a letter so distinct, the government should 
still keep me profoundly in the dark, never order me to do or 
forbear anything, or give me one hint of their views ! 

If I had possessed sufficient power, I should have taken the 
start of mr. Jefferson by removing him from office. 

Thus, countrymen, I groped along in the dark, trying to awake 
this snoring administration; but to no purpose. I continually 
heard it whispered, that the thing was going on by the privity of 
the executive ; and I was at moments exceedingly staggered rela- 
tive to that point by the silence of the administration to me. 

Moreau was now expected, and I had adopted the resolution 
of following him to New Orleans, with a view of finding out the 
precise objects, and the crisis. This resolution I had made known 
to my intimate friends: but whatever success I should have, I 
determined to advertise it in some newspaper, perfectly confident 
that the administration would never take any measure unless 
pushed head foremost into it by the people, or propelled to it by 
the immediate pressure of terror. But the general did not come ; 
and I take great pleasure in saying, that the development of this 
plot we now possess, gives me full reason to believe the general 
wholly innocent.®' 

I determined to make an effort to arrest Mr. Burr's prepara- 
tions, which were now publicly talked of, as soon as the court 
came on in November. On the third day of that court, I made 
an affidavit,®* of my information and belief, as to his expedition 
against Mexico ; and stated to the court, that the law only reached 
that part of the plot — ^but my information was equally conclusive, 
that the scheme embraced New Orleans, Louisiana, and all the 
western states. 

I desire you to remark this particularly. All the papers of the 
day will give you a precise detail. 

°' Moreau did come. Cf. Cox, "West Florida Controversy," 211. 
9^ See p. 152, 

96 



I am told that within three hours after this motion, the news 
reached mr. Burr at Lexington, three and twenty miles off. 

So watchful and alert were his friends. 

The judge overruled the motion. Before he did so, he in 
private informed me of his opinion; and told me a grand jury 
would come at the point as well. I suggested the difficulty of 
. getting the witnesses together, and the examination being in pri- 
vate. He said I had a right to examine the witnesses before a y 
jury. 

If I had been right prudent I should have stopped here, having 
done sufficient to have answered all purposes at an election, more 
especially as I had stopped at such a point as to make Mr. Burr 
and his friends applaud my for[27]bearance, and feel friendly 
towards me for pulling the trigger so easy. But my object was 
to stop mr. Burr. So I called for a grand jury. They came; 
but my most material witness failed, and I could not go on ; nor 
could I keep the grand jury there to wait for his return from 
Vincennes legislature, without vast expense; so they were dis- 
charged. 

Mr. Burr was careful to enquire of my friends, whether they 
supposed it was from a sense of official duty, or personal ill will, 
that I thus pursued him. The gentlemen all answered it was 
without doubt from a sense of duty. Mr. Burr expressed his 
conviction; and supposed if that was my motive, my pursuit of 
him would now cease. 
/ All this was told me, and attempts were made to produce a 
meeting between Mr. Burr and me. To all which I gave an an- 
swer, which put an end to a like conversation in the future. One 
gentleman, who I know to be a man of the first integrity, and a 
federalist, informed me that a letter had been addressed by an 
eminent gentleman in the Pittsburgh country to him, (or one of 
his neighbors) stating that Mr. Burr was out here to form a per- 
sonal acquaintance, and it was the intention of the federalists to 
take him up and run him for president at the next election ; but 
as I had not capacity enough to fathom the depth of this policy, 
and as I did not wish that federalism should come in by climbing 
over the wall, however, welcome it might be if it came in by the 
door, I disregarded the information. However, I had no power 
apparently to do anything, for on the discharge of the grand jury, 
the public voice seemed to break forth against me, as one who 

97 



had given a false alarm. The crowd had gathered there to see 
some great spectacle; and the disappointment was insupportable. 

The pleasure of some spectacle was the object with them ; they 
reasoned nothing about the main point. 

I addressed my last letter to Mr. Madison on the i6th of 
November, as follows: 

Sir, 

Before I left home, which was late in October, I had heard 
such accounts about Mr. Burr's preparations for an expedition 
about Louisville, that I was induced to pass near Louisville com- 
ing up, to satisfy myself on this subject. 

I there received abundant information of his preparations. 
Boats were building, beef-cattle bought up, more demanded in 
the market, a large quantity of pork and flour in demand, and an 
attempt to engage men for six months. This last did not come 
so well verified as the other particulars, though I believe the terms 
were certainly held out, but the engagement for a short time sus- 
pended, probably for fear of drawing the eye of government too 
soon toward the project. Mr. Burr's accomplices, very busy in 
disseminating the idea of disunion, as well as sentiments of mr. 
Burr's greatness, virtue, martyrdom, &. I had several private 
informations from men, who I could implicitly confide in, of 
what they had been told in secrecy by two men who I knew were 
Mr. Burr's chief confidents and counsellors in this country, which 
perfectly confirmed my previous information, that Mexico was 
the first object, the Mississippi the second, and the Ohio the com- 
pletion of the scheme. 

When I got here, where the assembly had met, I found a great 
abundance of mysterious whispers, that government were in the 
secret, and the affair going on by their instigation. [28] 

I determined at once on an attempt to arrest this proceeding, 
which I could not suppose to be with the privity or knowledge of 
government ; or at least to draw the public eye on the afiFair, and 
put the people on their guard in respect to it. But as the only 
sure way was that of bringing Mr. Burr up for examination on 
affidavit, in which case, witnesses could be sent for and ex- 
amined at several times as they could be procured, I adopted the 
mode, and made such a motion upon an affidavit, which ere this 
I suppose you have seen in some newspaper. The judge over- 

98 



ruled it. I then thought it incumbent on me, to make an effort 
to collect the witnesses before a grand jury, though much doubt- 
ing my success. A grand jury was ordered; but my principal 
witness as to stores and supplies, engaged and engaging, had gone 
to Vincennes legislature, and could not be had, I thought it not 
discreet to go into an examination, unless the necessary witnesses 
were present, as the scheme would gather strength by a failure. 
So the jury was discharged. 

Davis Floyd, the witness who was absent, is the man with 
whom mr. Burr last year formed connections, when he first came 
here; and who has been his quarter master general in all these 
preparations. The design and intent would have been satisfac- 
torily proved; but the preparation of the means was an indis- 
pensible part of the charge to be substantiated. 

Unless the law is altered and much amended, there is little 
reason to believe, under, the opinions of this judge, that anything 
can be done of a preventive nature by a grand jury ; such is the 
difficulty of getting together at one time the necessary witnesses. 

I consider him clearly possessed of power to make the exami- 
nation in or out of court — to bind to good behaviour, and recog- 
nize the witnesses to appear at court ; but as he does not think so 
without some legislative declaration, he will not do it. 

I never knew, till I made particular examination, that no law 
forbids an attempt to disunite the states. 

I observe the act on which I have been proceeding, authorizes 
the president to call on the militia to prevent such unlawful ex- 
peditions. But no authority is appointed in such cases to examine 
witnesses — to judge whether the scheme be of that nature — nor 
to seize the stores prepared — nor to bind the offenders to good 
behaviour. 

I note these things, contemplating the possibility of some legis- 
lative interference on the subject, to amend and declare the law. 
I shall continue to watch the motions of Mr. Burr, though I know 
not in what way I can with certainty obstruct his course. The 
crisis is near; the preparation of so many perishable stores as- 
sures me of this, independent of the information I have received. 
I have no doubt you will discover in the end, that a great number 
of very wealthy men in the Eastern states, are in this project. 

It is somewhat like Cataline's conspiracy, as it respects its 
leader and his adherents. The same means and address are used ; 

99 



and the same kind of desperate characters engaged in the scheme. 
Men without fortune or expectation, save from some revolution. 
Great and indefatigable attempts are making here, to render 
Mr. Burr popular ; and they are not without some effect. 

He seems principally to address our young men; and with a 
success at once astonishing and mortifying to a true American. 

No doubt is left with any one who hears what is said by his 
intimates, [29] but a separation of the union is the ultimate pur- 
pose. They speak of it as a very advantageous event f^ and one 
without which this country can never prosper. Mr. Burr is more 
circumspect on the subject. He says it must as necessarily hap- 
pen, as that the ripe fruit falls from the tree; but it would be 
folly to think of it, in less than 8 or 10 years : From which I take 
his statement to be, that it ought to happen as soon as possible. 

said, that the attempt for that purpose would be made 

in less than two years ; and would succeed. A man of undoubted 
credit, who heard him say so, accused him with it, face to face, 
in Frankfort, a few days ago. 
/ In my list of names to the president, last February, I men- 

tioned two men, who, in a subsequent letter, I stated to be er- 
roneously mentioned as concerned in the present plot. 

I have no reason to believe them connected in it now; and 
for that cause deem them wholly innocent. 

I also stated that $ioo,ocx) had been disbursed by Spanish 
agents: of this I asked the very man who it should have come 
from; for he was said to have seen the boxes packed up, and 
freighted for this country : But as he declined giving me any posi- 
tive assurance of the fact, I have supposed it untrue, and that it 
arose from the fact, of which no doubt can be entertained on the 
information I have received, that this sum was offered by Dr. 
Powers to certain leading men here. But I believe it was refused ; 
and instead of his view being responded, a minister plenipotentiary 
was dispatched secretly by the Spanish government to make a 
treaty, which finally fell through, because they asked three per 
cent, on merchandise, exported by us to their ports. 

These corrections I deemed necessary, lest you should be mis- 
led by my previous letters. 

Upon a subject of this nature, it may be proper for me to 

'* Cf. Taylor's Autobiography. 

100 



let you know what reaches me by report, although in the end it 
may be erroneous. 

It is said that /^ of Tennessee, has been organizing 

volunteers, and has two companies complete; and that prepara- 
tions as extensive are making for Mr. Burr's enterprise in Ten- 
nessee, as here. 

I do not vouch for the truth of these stories; but they are 
so probable, that I deem them worth communicating. 

If any act of mine is not in harmony with your views, I assure 
myself you will excuse me. You know that I have been all along 
in the dark, as to the sentiments of government, on this subject. 

I give this as a reason of any possible infringement of your 
plan. My want of information as to your views, has been very 
distressing to me, although I have not much cause to complain, as 
your experience shews, that almost every line you write finds its 
way into the newspapers, and becomes matter of public animad- 
version. Indeed it is very probable, that the president did not 
imagine the crisis to be so near. 

It is said, you have failed in your attempt to buy the Flori- 
das.^^ My knowledge of this scheme, gave me a full expectation 
of such an event. A war is now looked for most anxiously by 
these adventurers ; and they count upon it as certain and inevi- 
table. It will be with extreme exertion that you will be able to 
avoid it. Had it come a year sooner, they would not have been 
ready for it; were it delayed a year longer, their preparations 
would go to pot before the crisis : if it happens now, it will come 
in the lucky moment for them. [30] 

What maritime force can Mr. Burr have engaged to co-operate 
with him?^® 

I received the day before I left home your letter; and one 
from the president. He does not acknowledge the receipt of my 
letters of the 28th and 29th of March. 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 

1 6th November, 1806. 

The Hon. Jamks Madison. 

'* Jackson. 

" See I. J. Cox, "West Florida Controversy, Chapter VII. 

«8 Martin, Hist, of La., Vol. 11, p. 271. 

lOI 



This was written in a moment of uncommon illumination ; for 
the president recommends laws upon all these subjects. 

Now mr. Burr's tide was making very rapidly ; and threatened 
to swallow me up. The current came up so strong, that I was 
broken loose from my friends, and there was a period, at which, 
for several days, there was only two or three men in Frankfort, 
even in that public time, to whom I could speak without reserve 
or restraint ; and only two houses into which I could enter, with- 
out the risque of an unwelcome countenance. I was fair game 
for every one. The genuine republicans left no efforts unem- 
ployed to injure me; and every one of these Espaniolized Ken- 
tuckians, not one excepted, were Burr's friends, and my perse- 
cutors. The people seemed to vie with each other in folly, and a 
zeal to distinguish and caress this persecuted patriot. Balls and 
parties were held for him. 

The secretary told me, that the governor^® laughed at the idea 
of Mr. Burr's expedition — so assiduous had those people been in 
plying him with falsehoods on this subject, for no one doubts his 
being a patriot. 

You remark in history, that there are times in which whole 
nations are blind : this seemed to me to be one. It appeared as if 
Mr. Burr had wrought a spell or enchantment on the whole people 
and their magistracy. 

I received information about this time, that Floyd had re- 
turned; and I called for another grand jury, and gave them in- 
dictments against him and Mr. Adair.^°° When addressing the 
grand jury, I was informing them that as this was a matter of a 
secret nature, and in which witnesses would not depose unless 
drawn to the point of enquiry, it would be well for them to de- 
mand my aid, in which case I would examine witnesses before 
them. This, of all things, Mr. Burr determined to avoid. Much 
argument took place; and the judge decided, that if the grand 
jury called on me, I should not go to them to examine witnesses. 
Had the judge told me that at first, I should not have put the' 
government to the expence of a grand jury at all ; for I knew the 

'9 Christopher Greenup. 

1°° He averred knowledge of Burr's project, but denied his participation in 
it. Cf. Marshall, II, 409. He followed Burr to Nashville after the trial at 
Frankfort. — Barry Papers, Amer. Hist. Rev., Vol. XVI, 330. For arrest later, 
cf. Adams, III, 324. 

I02 



witnesses could never be brought to tell what they knew without 
close examination. 

They all swore ignorance; and the grand jury prepared an ad- 
dress to the court, over and above their finding. This you have 
seen. It gave the lie to every suspicion. A great majority of that 
jury, were honest simple men, who had no idea what they were 
doing; but the active instruments of that address, made it, no 
doubt, wholly with a personal view, to bury alive a man, who 
should stir a question that brought to the peoples mind the old 
Spanish business ; and thwarted our good saviour, mr. Burr, in 
his patriotic endeavors to give a wider spread to republicanism. 
It was received with great pleasure indeed — ordered to be re- 
corded — a copy allowed — and hand bills printed before night. 

Now the flood seemed to assuage a little ; and the clouds began 
to break away, though very slowly. The people were not satisfied 
at my be[3i]ing prevented from examining the witnesses; and 
the address was too good, and made the point too clear. Having 
been once disappointed they did not look for a spectacle : they 
began to think and add up, and found the result of the addition 
unsatisfactory. 

Mr. Burr stayed in town, I think one or two days ; and then 
started for Nashville. 

On the 14th of December I left Frankfort, abandoning every 
further pursuit of the subject, expecting Mr. Burr would succeed 
in the first instance, and it would only cost the lives of a few 
thousand men, divided between the sword and climate to re- 
instate us. 

I arrived at Louisville, fifty miles from Frankfort, the i6th 
of December; from which I wrote the governor the following 
letter. 

AT LOUISVILLE, 16 December, 1806. 
Sir, 

Today certain vessels of Mr. Burr's flotilla, departed from 
this place. First two keel boats built here, one above and the 
other below the falls. The latter constructed for 16 oars; the 
size of the former not known; then six large flat boats; then 
four keels from Marietta ; and lastly, two other flats — making in 
the whole eight flats and six keels. I arrived about two o'clock : 
just previous to which, the men for the flats had rendezvous'd at 

103 



Jeffersonville, and fired many voUies of small arms ; and the men 
at the boat yard say, from the sound, that they fired also a field 
piece ; but this I can't yet ascertain. 

Soon after I arrived, the four keels from Marietta crossed 
the falls in my view; and soon after, two flats from Jefiferson- 
ville — not having, as we hear, stopped any where since they 
weighed at Marietta. We soon went down to Shipping Port, to 
see the boats ; but they made no stop only for a minute at Clarkes- 
ville, to let Mr. Blannerhasset get out, who will go in the boats 
that cast off tonight. Several of our company went over. Mr. 
Norborne Beall, of that party, this moment has returned; and 
tells me that mr. Blannerhasset informed him, that the govern- 
ment had stopped the sailing of nine other boats from Marietta, 
one of which was for the use of his family, and had ordered him- 
self to be apprehended, and that no bail should be taken for his 
forthcoming, in less than $50,000, — that to avoid so arbitrary a 
proceeding, he had slipt off with three boats, and they could do 
without the others. Mr. Beall saw six men lifting a box on board, 
which, from its length, he supposed to contain musquets. Mr. 
Beall observed, that he saw no women or children on board. 
Blannerhasset said, that might be accounted for by the inclemency 
of the season. 

Is it not astonishing that our people should, for a moment, 
be gulled with this despicable foolish Ouachita^°^ story? 

There is something remarkable in the concert which seems 
to be observed between the several parties. Blannerhasset shipped 
off from Marietta, he says; yet this day was the rendezvous of 
the people here ; and it appears that the arrival of these boats was 
their signal for sailing. Perhaps a courier by land, might produce 
this concert. This morning mr. Fitzhugh saw two very heavy 
boxes, which he took to be musquets, put into a drayman's car- 
riage, from the house of mr. Berthoud, to go down to Shipping 
Port. The drayman said they were arms. 

Gen. George R. Clarke, saw there a few days ago, a number 
of boxes, [32] which he was satisfied were for cartridges ready 
made up ; being of the very same appearance with such boxes sent 
formerly to him. 

The idea of a settlement at Ouachita, is now wholly exploded 
I am told by those concerned. 

"' McCaleb, ''The Aaron Burr Conspiracy," p. 83. 

104 



I cannot look on and see the sovereignty of my country set at 
nought, in this manner, without unspeakable distress ; a distress 
much increased by a knowledge of the exemplary assiduity which 
has been employed by printers, accomplices, and insinuating 
friends to treason, under the garb of patriotism and candour, to 
lull my government and country into supineness, upon a subject 
so interesting to the American family. 

What is to become of our merchants, in all ports subject or 
appendant to France or Spain, when the explosion takes place? 
What would become of one of our seaport cities, should one of 
their fleets find its way there? The country ought at least to be 
apprised, that as much as possible may be rescued from the just 
vengeance of our neighbours. 

Mr. New, the collector of the port ^°^ is on board. So you are 
not to expect that these people, will make an entry in this custom 
house and clear out ? In making this communication, I discharge 
my duty as a citizen. I leave the duty of government to its high 
magistracy, only observing, that if any thing is done, it must be 
with expedition, for at the mouth of Cumberland they will again 
rendezvous, as I am told. 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
The GovEiRNOR. 



This I understand, he had before the assembly; and while 
they were on the subject, mr. Jefferson's agent^"® had arrived 
there, and was examined with closed doors. 

This was my last effort. I came home to my farm ; on the 
Ohio, where I have since remained. 

About the middle of April, I understood that I was removed 
from office. 

On the last day of that month, I fell in with a young man, 
named Jackson, of Virginia, on this way to the mouth of Cum- 
berland, to summon witnesses against Burr, having been at Frank- 
fort, Louisville, &c. for the same purpose. He had not sum- 
moned a single witness. 

He had with him from three to four pages of printed interro- 



^"^ Louisville, at that time, was a port of entry, 
i"* John Graham, Secretary of Orleans Territory. 

105 



gatories, drawn up by mr. Attorney General Rodney/"* to shew 
to persons he should enquire of for testimony. 

One of them was, whether any force was embodied on the 
Ohio? And another, of whom Burr got. the Ouachita land?^"^ 
I told him to summon on both points ; and I see in the papers he 
has returned without summoning a witness to either. 

He told me, that a mr. Drew had been appointed to summon 
all over the westward, under whom he acted — that Drew told 
him, that after Burr's being bailed at Richmond,^"^ Rodney went 
to Washington to see the president; and that he (Drew) had to 
wait three days, before Rodney had done conferring with the 
president, and preparing to dispatch him. This young man was 
the sole judge who to summon, having blanks with him; and he 
was certainly young, illiterate, and seemed wholly ignorant of 
the world and of business. He had no intelligence of any person 
in Kentucky, who could inform him where testimony might 
be had. 

The judge, at Richmond, has said, that collecting a force is 
requisite to [33] constitute treason — as this was unquestionably 
done on the i6th Dec. at the Falls, and on the 226. at the mouth 
of Cumberland, and as the present attempt is fully mature, and 
managed by the highest council and wisdom of the land, we must 
expect mr. Burr to be convicted of treason. 

I shall not be surprized, however, if it turns out another Mi- 
randa affair.^"^ 



Stricture On The President's Communication 
Of The 22d January, 

Mr. Prejsidsnt, 

I HAVE arraigned you before this people, for 
neglecting your guardian duties over them — for violating their 
constitution and laws — and for rendering an unfaithful account 
of your agency to them and their councils. Part of the evidence 

^^ Caesar A. Rodney succeeded John Breckenridge. 

""See Evidence of Colonel Lynch, Annals of Congress, 1807-08, p. 657. 
i^^For Burr's sureties, see Annals of Tenth Congress, Session I, p. 389. 
'"The collector at the port of New York allowed Miranda to escape. 
This gave the impression that the government was willing. 

106 



I have laid before them. I now proceed to extract from your own 
report, the residue of what I intend to offer. If I transgress the 
Hmits of fair and legitimate observation, let it be set down to 
malice. 

When you were required to state your doings on the subject 
of the conspiracy, you felt how indispensible it was to your popu- 
larity, to make such a report as would exhibit that vigilance and 
energy on your part, for the want of which, this people, when duly 
informed, will receive no possible excuse or apology. It was 
therefore necessary to state the date of the warning, given to you, 
in such a manner, as to tally with the measures of prevention you 
adopted. 

You say, "sometime in the latter part of September, I received 
intimation that designs were in agitation in the western country, 
unlawful and unfriendly to the peace of the union, &c/'^°^ 

"The grounds of these intimations being inconclusive, the ob- 
jects uncertain, &c." If you had not said September, I should 
have been positive you pointed at my letter of loth of January, 
which tells you that "a separation of the Union in favor of Spain, 
is the object of Spanish intrigues and traitors in our country." 
Yet this is twelve months prior to the time of your communica- 
tion, and nine previous to a single step taken by you. 

Was this no such intimation as you would regard — was 
there none in my subsequent letters — was the conduct of Mr. 
Burr in his journeys, unworthy of notice — was the recept of the 
pension from Spain, by the judge, wholly trivial — were Wilkin- 
son's intrigues immaterial — was the offer of $200, to the citizens 
of Woodford, to stand centinel for the king of Spain, no ground 
for suspicion — was the memorandum sent from Tennessee to the 
gentleman in Lexington, a matter unworthy observation, when 
connected with Mr. Burr's other movements? Then we will 
pass by all these things, till the fourteenth of July. Here I tell 
you the project is "to cause a revolt of the Spanish provinces, 
and a severance of all these western states from the union, to 
coalesce and form one government." What better do you know 
about it to-day, than this ? Seizing the bank, and corrupting in- 
dividuals, were only subordinate measures — [34] were only point- 
ers to the pole. Let it not be said that a revolt of the Spanish 

^"^ Eaton's interview, Sept., 1806, first alarmed Jefferson. See Testimony 
of Gideon Granger in Quar. Pub. Hist, and Phil. Soc. of Ohio, Vol. IX, 1 and 2. 

107 



provinces is problematical. It might be so in fact, but it certainly 
was a part of the scheme. Burr's ciphered letter/"® shews that em- 
issaries were with him, to let him know the people were ready 
for, and desired his arrival. His accomplices (one of them at 
least) stated privately to more than one person of this state, the 
readiness of the Mexican country to revolt — and that their chief 
eclesiastical characters were for it. 

What do you now think of those troops on the Sabine, sir? 
I have no doubt they were there for this very purpose.^^° They 
as fully understood Wilkinson, and Wilkinson them, as two of 
your departments understand each other. The information I had 
given you, would have made any magistrate ready to suspect this, 
save one who had learned human nature in his closet, by studying 
natural philosophy. 

You proceed, "it was not till the latter end of October that the 
objects of the conspiracy began to be perceived." Just Heavens ! 
Mr. President, what are you saying ? — Have you forgot this same 
letter of July? — Have you forgot that of August the fourteenth, 
which states distinctly what came from a leading chief in this 
conspiracy — and both of which state the thing exactly as it came 
to pass? 

Pity — pity, for my chief, arrests my pen from pursuing a 
point, so mortifying to the pride of the American nation. 

I'll relieve you for a moment from the wheel. You say the 
objects then began to be perceived, "but still so blended and in- 
volved in mystery, that nothing distinct could be singled out for 
pursuit." Downright Irish — They were then perceived, but not 
perceivable. "Nothing could be singled out for pursuit." And what 
did you want to single out ? What did you ultimately single out ? 
Why nothing at all. You issued a proclamation ; and why could 
not and ought not that to have been done, when you began to per- 
ceive those unperceivable machinations? When Genet, our dear 
brother, began to excite our citizens to rise and form an army to 
descend the river against the Spaniards, president Washington 
did not wait for singling out anything: he issued a proclama- 
tion/^^ — this roused the country, — it undeceived the multitude. 

"» Wilkinson's Memoirs, Vol. II, p. 316, 317. 

""See Annals of Ninth Congress, p. 925. Wilkinson wrote to Cordero that 
he was moving toward the Sabine with no intentions hostile to Spain. 
>» See Gayarre, III, 341, 342. 

io8 



who had been told the government connived at the thing — this 
checked it. Had any further attempt been made to proceed, it 
was then, and not till then, he should single out and pursue. 

"In this state of uncertainty as to the crime contemplated." 
Most atrocious Irish. Why in the name of God, what was it you 
did perceive Mr, President? You perceived the objects of the 
conspiracy, but still uncertain as to "the crime contemplated." 

"The acts done, and the legal course to be pursued." Most 
gracious chief, will you vouchsafe to inform me, twilight plebean, 
what you really do mean here by "the legal course to be pur- 
sued :" for I declare solemnly, it is wholly incomprehensible. The 
expression is so blended and involved in mystery, that I can't 
single out a single idea, of any kind, to pursue. "The legal 
course." There is but one act of congress that forbids such en- 
terprizes ; and says the militia may be called out to prevent them. 
The punishment is another department. But what remedy did 
you adopt? (Countrymen listen!) You sent an agent with 
power and instruction to investigate the plots — ^to confer with the 
military & civil officers ; and with their aid to do on the spot, what- 
ever should be necessary to discover the designs of the conspira- 
tors — arrest their means — bring their persons [35] to punish- 
ment — and to call out the force of the country. What kind of 
an agent was this? You made him a president. What sort of 
authority did you delegate? Whence came your power to con- 
stitute a deputation of this sort? How were the designs of the 
conspirators to be discovered, by the help of the civil and military 
officers ? 

You depute one to do those things, which you alone are 
equal to in proper person; and to do things which you cannot 
do. What do you mean by arresting their means? Is it seizing 
the boats and stores? There is no such law. And this is what 
you do intend by these words ; because another member of the 
sentence [sic] is to suppress the enterprise. 

The history of our young government cannot furnish a like 
outrage on the constitution. What was your cry, and that of your 
partizans, when judge Bee departed from an order, perfectly law- 
ful, by president Adams, in giving up Jonathan Robbins,^^^ with- 
out requiring sufficient proof. You condemned the president, 
even for the act of the judge. Yes, sir, and had he given this 

'^^ Adams, II, p. 333. 

109 



deputation of power, and you been longing for his seat, we would 
hear of nothing else for months: And had his agent exercised 
these powers, my mind can scarce reach the extent of your sen- 
tence. 

Let us go on : "By this time it was known that many boats 
were under preparation, stores of provisions collecting, and an 
unusual number of suspicious characters in motion on the Ohio, 
and its waters." By what time? the last of October — and what 
else did you want to perceive, to make a proclamation requisite, 
unless you wished your agent to go to the spot, to find out the 
legal course, concerning which, you were still uncertain. 

Then we come to the communication from Wilkinson.^^^ Are 
you, sir, really so weak, as not to perceive, in that letter itself, 
irrefragible evidence of Wilkinson's guilt? The whole paper is 
written to a man who fully understands already, all the circum- 
stances of the subject. Nothing explained; I have commenced 
the enterprise; the project is brought to the point so long wished 
for; provisions are forwarded to points Wilkinson may name, &c. 
To go on with proper quotations, would be to transcribe the whole 
letter. Yet with your papers sent by Mr. EHicot, (speaking of 
them by guess) the effort made about the territorial governments, 
my letters, the Spanish pension, Burr's movements, the troops on 
the Sabine, and this letter, you stand up and panegirize this man. 

— O Tempora! O More;s! — 

Mr. President, you must have known better; there is some- 
thing in this, infamously misterious. I take the true and real 
state of the fact, to be this : You slept amidst all my attempts to 
awake you, and probably similar endeavors by others — You 
sent an agent, who was about returning to Orleans on his own 
business, merely to see if any thing was the matter, but possessed 
of a full set of presidential powers. He was scarce gone when 
Wilkinson's letter waked you with a clap of thunder. His defec- 
tion from Burr, saved you from a dreadful catastrophe; saved 
you from disgrace — and probably, the deprivation of your office. 
You were so filled with fright and joy, that you caressed Wil- 
kinson, as a deliverer ; and tell the thing with all the puerile 
trembling gladness of a boy, who tells his daddy how near he 
escaped being bit by a rattlesnake. 

"^Letter from Natchitoches, Oct. 21, 1806. — Wilkinson' s Memoirs, Vol. II. 

lie 



Now proceed: "Wilkinson's letter and other information," 
developed Burr's general designs! What not till then? How- 
far did these differ from my information ? "At which time, there- 
fore, it was first possible, [36] to take specific measures." And 
what did you take? A proclamation.^^* Now what would you 
call a general measure? You issued orders of a general nature, 
to the posts. And why could not this proclamation and these 
orders have been issued upon general information, without know- 
ing the crime contemplated, the acts done, or legal course to be 
pursued? "A little before this the agent had opened himself to 
the governor of Ohio." Now, Mr. President, my utter want of 
documents, (even my newspapers which have been torn up) dis- 
ables me from stating any thing about this matter very precise; 
but I have the fullest belief, that this is not the fact. That legis- 
lature, if I am not mistaken, were proceeding with closed doors, 
on this matter, several days before your agent crossed the Ohio 
at all.^^^ On the 6th of December, the seizure was made; and, 
if I am not decieved, it was early in the previous month, they were 
aiming to possess themselves of the case, and to act upon it. 

I do aver that that state was in commotion about this business 
long previous — and yet you state this thing, as if they had been 
as supine as yourself, until the arrival of your confidential budget 
on the spot, at which spot he got his information. Your story is 
not the fact ; but it has the advantage of which Voltaire boasted, 
when corrected about a point in his history : It is prettier than the 
fact! 

Now I come round to the place where an honorable niche is 
cut in the wall for me. 

"In Kentucky a premature attempt to bring Burr to Justice." 
How was it premature ? Is it because I had not sufficient evidence 
for his conviction? Look over the names of the witnesses, and 
you will there see the most notorious accomplices of Burr — men 
who to divers persons, had before that time, stated their knowl- 
edge of the matter in such a way, as to make their participation 
unquestionable. One of these was the person alluded to, in the 
letter of the 14th of August, who stated to the young man, the 
views and objects of the project: and, although that young man 
backed out in the most infamous manner, upon his oath before 

"* Issued Nov. 27, 1%Q(>.— Annals of Ninth Congress, 686. 
^^^See Taylor Autobiography. 

Ill 



the grand jury, yet it is manifest, from the tale itself, that he told 
the truth at first; for the story then told, turns out to be the real 
plot: but add to this, he reported the same thing to three other 
gentlemen, with whom I have conversed. 

Now was not this man alone, sufficient evidence whereon to 
proceeed? Could I foresee that he would swear ignorance of 
what I could prove he knew, if such proof were admissible? 

Then comes the man of whom Burr bought Bastrop's land,^^® 
to settle gulls on, and whose house had been a home to Burr. 
The speculating turn of this man — his conversation — ^his ex- 
pressive declarations, one of which foretold the seperation of 
the union — his intimacy with Burr, and all his known accom- 
plices, left no doubt in any man's mind of his ability to testify. 
Then comes the gentleman of Jeffersonville, Burr's quarter- 
master-general.^^'^ He has lately made a confession in writing 
to governor Harrison. Were the proceedings to be had against 
Burr this day, it would be absolutely impossible to select better 
witnesses in Kentucky than I had: his noted agents and accom- 
plices. I am not to be responsible for the refusal of the witnesses 
to testify. 

But come back to your word "premature" — it seems to mean 
that I began too soon, in point of time; I ought to have waited, 
till I could have matured the matter, and made a safe shot. O fie 
Mr. President! [37] O fie! it's horrid to hear you informing con- 
gress without your knowing any thing about what you speak of, 
and shaking your statements so as to suit your fraudulent claim 
to public confidence & applause. All Kentucky knows I had not 
one day to loose ; now or never. After the jury were dismissed, 
Burr staid a day, perhaps two, to save appearances and get a 
ball,^^* then started, and I have heard it reported an hundred 
times, that the third night after, he slept in the neighborhood of 
Nashville, two hundred and fifty miles off — Did this look like a 
man who had over staid his time already, or one who had so 
much time to spare, that I might have taken a few more days 
to enquire and prepare. The first mentioned witness started 
from Frankfort in equal haste, not allowing the taylor time to 
finish his servants coat, as I often heard. He tired his horse 

"•See Note 88. 
'" Davis Floyd. 

"*Daveiss refused to go to this ball. See Taylor Autobiography. 

112 



before he reached Hartford in my county, crossed at the ferry 

at Caney late at night, which is miles from Hartford, 

and rode to Craven's one mile from Hartford, before he slept. 
Does this look like prematureness ; or does it seem as if I had 
run time to the lees. 

Since I have been writing, I have seen a member of congress, 
who at Washington city, heard you speak of this thing. — You 
said I had been officious and did not understand the thing; you 
seemed vexed about it ; I confess sir, I was officious ; I have been 
very officious about this business from the first; but look at my 
letters, sir, and be vexed for your own unofficiousness of behavior. 
Whose fault is it that I had not instructions from government? 

If I had suffered Burr to slip off, and said nothing, how 
universally I ought to have been, and would have been cursed! 
How could I have answered for falling asleep on my post? But 
"the arrival of your deputy president awaked us to the truth." 
Would to God this inspired youth had returned back to Washing- 
ton, and awaked his master to the truth. 

Do you dare to say, sir, we did not understand the true state 
of this matter here before your prophet came? Look at my 
affidavit and observations on the 3d day of November — I have 
no copy of them but I do positively assert, that I there state, 
(and pray the judge to cause enquiry) that Mexico was the first 
object, the Mississippi the second, and the states of the Ohio 
the fini of the project. Your agent came here about the 20th of 
December or later ; and fifty days before, I had made this state- 
ment: to wit, about the time he left you, to travel out here to 
resolve you, certainly, as to the legal course to he pursued. 

If the judge had not baulk'd this officious attorney, without 
understanding the matter, would have saved you from making a 
report wholly derogatory to your station. 

Look at my letter to Mr. Madison of i6th of November, more 
than a month before your agent came. 

Reader examine my affidavit and statement, and the presi- 
dent's report, and then say who had devoted himself most assidu- 
ously and successfully to the investigation of this treason, the 
president or myself. By the 3d of November I had stated this 
thing fully as to its material parts, and truly, and singled out 
my main measure and means for pursuit. At that time the 
president began to perceive it, but it was still unperceivable to 

113 



him — It danced before his eyes in a kind of a Jack-in-a-lanthorn 
manner ; so he sent off to see what it was. 

No, Mr. President, your agent was believed, when he told 
the things which for near two months I had been crying out in 
the streets, without being regarded ; that's the fact. Your agent 
had touched the hem of Jefferson's [38] garment; he had your 
name; Omnipotent talisman! O, sir, had you sent me one of 
your boots in October, I could, with the knowledge I had, 
have fixed the whole affair. 

But let us pursue this agent; he got a law passed in Ken- 
tucky, ordering the militia instantly to different points, &c. ("In 
the mean time the boats crossed the falls,") what "mean time?" 
Why, sir, while the law was passing. "Not apprised till very 
lately that boats were building on Cumberland." You were ap- 
prised, sir, that there were preparations generally there; boats 
were not named, nor were flour barrels; but both must be sup- 
posed when you hear of preparations. "I trusted to the effect 
of the proclamation, &c. &c. &c." Now, reader, the true state 
of the matter is this : 

On the 27th of November the proclamation issued. 

On the i6th December I saw the flotilla cross the falls in a 
fine flood; 14 boats. I wrote the governor. After that letter 
and about the 20th the agent came to Frankfort (I was not there, 
so don't know precisely.) On the 23d the law passed, and the 
agent went on toward Nashville. 

On the 19th an express was sent by the president from Wash- 
ington to Nashville. 

On the 22d Burr went from the mouth of Cumberland by 
water; the boats from the falls were with Burr that day. They 
crossed the falls the i6th about 11 or 12 o'clock; in thirty six 
hours they arrived at my house half way to the mouth of Cum- 
berland, so that the 20th or 21st they must have been there; and 
they actually were there. That point is sixty miles by water from 
the Mississippi. Now see what follows, and blush for our presi- 
dent. "Whether after the arrival of the proclamation, of the 
orders, or of our agent, any exertion which could be made by 
that state, or the orders of the governqr of Kentucky for calling 
out the militia at the mouth of Cumberland, would be in time to 
arrest these boats, and those from the falls of Ohio, is still 
doubtful. 

114 



Is it possible that our great man did compose and that con- 
gress did really swallow such a piece as this ! An event stated to 
be doubtful which it is absolutely impossible (from dates and 
geography) could have happened. "By the same express orders 
were sent," &c. This is three setts of orders. But I consider 
every thing of this sort after Wilkinson's letter as mere affecta- 
tion and display, or the workings of your trembling nerves; for 
when Wilkinson deserted, the heart of Burr's whole project was 
broke, and every man of the least discernment must have seen it. 
New Orleans was then safe. 

Then comes some more praise of the general. 

Notice is particularly due to the ensuing paragraph. 

You state that surmises of foreign instrumentality in this en- 
terprise are inadmissible, because we are in the paths of peace 
and negociation with our neighbors. 

I have remarked for many years sir, in your addresses, the 
most wonderful ignorance of history and human nature. I have 
sometimes doubted whether it was not mere affectation, to catch 
the star-gazing multitude, by making out that government was 
a very simple easy thing, that would go on by itself without the 
guardianship of talents or exertion. But I perceive you are really 
in earnest. In your communication of 1805, (which I am sorry 
I cannot lay my hand on) relative to our relations with Spain, in 
two different places you calculate the event, from a sense of 
national jus[39]tice and honor in the Spaniards, and a due esti- 
mate of interest as well as character. Why, whoever heard such 
a speech from a politician ? All history is little more than a cata- 
logue of crimes and wrongs of nations to each other. What 
would have been our fate, had we confided thus in England in 
1776? What the fate of the Dutch under Philip 2d, or the 
Portuguese under Philip 4th? The Swedes under their op- 
pressors when Gustavus Vara relieved them? But why attempt 
an enumeration which must fill a volume? What was the late 
fate of Poland, when she had her safety in the justice of her 
neighbors ? The later fate of Holland ; Helvetia ; Belgium ; Italy ; 
Portugal? To what point has this wise confidence brought the 
skeleton empire of Spain? that of Austria, and the oppressed 
king of Prussia; where would England have been now if led by 
such a politician as your excellency? 

In your address of this year (which I have not) you state, 

115 



doubtingly, whether a law is wanting to repress and punish at- 
tempts against the integrity of a country so free, and where the 
citizens are so powerful as ours ; as if this was not the very 
country where ambition has the fullest scope, fairest prospects, 
and least control. What country or government on earth has 
escaped these troubles? Or do you really think that human 
nature will turn out otherwise in this hemisphere, than it has done 
in the old world ? 

In your last you can't believe foreign influence to be exercised 
because of our pacific dispositions. Why is there a more stale 
and hackeneyed trick among nations than to make an attempt after 
unguarding the adversary by negociation? 

The Carthagenians treated until their strongholds, their arms, 
and the city gates were in the hands of their enemies. The same 
snare was laid for Louis 14 by Mar [1] borough; but it did not 
take. The Greek empire at Constantinople was overturned, by 
the turk, fighting and treating, and treating and fighting, till he 
found an opening to make a lunge in quart at his adversary and 
lay him dead at his feet. The Dutch when treating of peace with 
England, entered the Thames and burnt the English fleet. 

But instead of quotations, a general reference should be made 
to all history. 

How many lessons has France taught us all, within the last 
seventeen years on this subject? But come to the last year: For 
what were those troops on the sabine ? and how reconcile this with 
your Godwin theories. 

I am sorry sir, that my limits are so small ; I must proceed 
to your last paragraph. 

This states that citizens had been seized and shipped, and ac- 
counts for it by the disturbed condition of Orleans. 

Pardon the plainness of my language, Mr. President, but when 
I read this paragraph : when I reflect how much, and how long my 
country has been abused by this rotten and corrupt member, and 
what reasons and evidences you have to shew you his falsehood 
and treachery; and when I see the poor pitiful attempts of your 
terror-born gratitude, to extenuate & plaster over this man, to 
whose abomination you are solely indebted for your disgraceful 
deliverance, my soul is filled with the most unspeakable contempt 
for Thomas Jefiferson, and the deepest grief, that the chair of 
state is not filled by a man whose honesty, dignity and energy are 

116 



equal to that mighty station. The people have been seized and 
shipped,"^ "probably on the consideration that an impartial trial 
could not be expected, [40] during the agitations of New Orleans, 
and that city was not as yet a safe place of confinement." 

O potent constitution ! O government of laws ! thus sported 
with and trampled on ! ! ! Had this been done by president 
Adams ; the very parrots would have been taught to say habeas 
corpus. Your genuine republicans, have been laboring to whine 
tears out of our eyes about a lying caitiff of a printer in New 
England, sent to jail for a libel, after regular trial in court ;^^** 
but here our first magistrate stands forth and mildly seems to 
dispense with our whole constitution, bill of rights and laws, which 
secure personal liberty. 

The Pope is God, and God is the Pope. 

Come back a little to your sentence ; the men have been shipped 
to you, probably on the consideration, that New Orleans will not 
admit of an impartial trial, nor is a safe place of confinement. 
Most infamous ! And with this you send congress documents to 
shew that your general has the city under his feet. Your viceroy 
Claiborne, is hardly a shadow, and your judges (attend country- 
men) your judges have laid off their robes, abandoned the sacred 
judgment seat, and became the general's privy council. He con- 
sults with them who to arrest, and how to proceed. If impar- 
tiality of trial cannot be had, the error is against the accused, on 
which account we all know they never would have been sent 
away. As to the safety of confinement, that's mere sham. We 
can all judge on that point, when the general reigns absolutely 
both on land and water. 

"Both as to place and process as its functionaries may direct. 
The presence of the highest judicial authorities, to be assembled 
at this place within a few days, the means of pursuing a sounder 
course of proceedings here than elsewhere, and the aid of execu- 
tive means, should the judges have occasion to use them, render 
it equally desirable, for the criminal as for the public, that, being 
already removed from the place where they were apprehended, 
the first regular arrest should take place here, and the course of 
preceedings receive here its proper direction." 

'^^ Erick Bollman, Peter V. Ogden, Samuel Swartwout, James Alexander. 
— Amer. State Papers, MiscelL, p. 470. 
'-<• Matthew Lyon. 

117 



Most mighty chief, don't let your wrath burn against me, and 
vouchsafe only for once more to explain in the vernacular tongue 
what you do mean here ; for as God is my judge, it is so blended 
and involved in mystery that I can't single out a single atom of 
meaning for pursuit. "As to place" What ? Bring the man one 
thousand miles in a prison ship, to ask the hierarchy of powers in 
what place they should be tried? Every county court lawyer 
knows. 

The presence of the supreme court; why how were they to act ; 
nobody on your side of the house imagined they would dare a 
habeas corpus ; nor was it clear, or is now, that they had power. 
They had never done such a thing before. 

The means of pursuing a sounder course here than elsewhere; 
how in the name of God — Give me just a little hint of what you 
aim at? — "The aid of executive means should the judges have 
occasion to use them" — Just Heaven! is the man talking in his 
sleep ? "The first regular arrest should take place here.'* Good 
republicans; ye who understand the words of light and wisdom, 
help me I pray you out of this dismal cave of perplexity, where 
not a ray of light shoots down "athwart the gloom profound." 

"And the course of proceedings receive here its proper direc- 
tion." Why [41] what's the meaning of this? Is the president 
imitating the prophet Ezekiel or the Revelations? 

"The course of proceedings receive here; its proper direction." 

Spirit of immortal mirandola! descend in thy light and 
strength ; — bring with thee thy famous thesis, consisting of nine 
hundred propositions of cabalistic learning; for behold I have a 
paragraph of presidential cabalistical scripture to lay before thee, 
at which I will give thee nine hundred fair trials, and if thou 
can single out one distinct and sensible idea in the whole para- 
graph, I will fall down and worship thee ! ! 

Mr. President, there neither is a meaning, nor ever was in- 
tended that there should be one in this composition. Your ex- 
cellency has resorted to your characteristic quadruplicity of style. 
Your fine artificial tissue of words, to an ambiguous, abstruce, 
unintelligible set of pretty sentences to lullaby the ear of congress 
and indispose them to examine the conduct of your saviour gen- 
eral. 

So I take my leave of you, Mr. President. 



118 



Countrymen, 

I have gone through the narrative I desired to lay before you, 
and the observations I thought proper to submit relative to it. 
You can now judge how I have acquitted myself toward you, and 
toward the government, and can decide how the president has 
acted toward you and me. 

When you see the president's communication analysed and 
examined you find he has done little or nothing at all towards 
defeating this conspiracy. After it has been completely crippled 
by Wilkinson's defection, then great display of zeal and orders 
were exhibited. When the feathers are picked off his report you 
can see no carcase left. To the eye it was all plumage, to the 
ear vox et nihil preferea. 

Countrymen, if that unforeseen event had not happened to 
Mr. Burr, we would not have regained our peace without much 
effusion of blood. If Wilkinson had adhered to him, the boats 
seized at Marietta wOuld have been no obstacle to his success. No 
men were seized, and the commerce of the river would abundantly 
furnish food for a party unprincipled enough to seize the bank 
for their support. 

It is possible that the president supposed that my fear of 
publishing the names communicated to him, would check my pub- 
lication of his imposition on you, as to his vigilance. — He was 
mistaken — I sincerely wish those names not to be published — 
I have enemies enough by this matter already — but if they are, I 
am ready to meet the consequences. 

My publication may be supposed to proceed from vindictive- 
ness — those who will think so will not alter their opinion from 
any assertion to the contrary. — I do not deny that I utterly de- 
spise and scorn the president for his treatment to me ; but I assert 
that from the first moment his communication appeared, I re- 
sented the imposition on the nation, and can name the persons 
present. — Yet I don't know that I should have made any publica- 
tion, in print, if the finger of public disrespect and suspicion had 
not been pointed at me as it has been. 

But countrymen, the wrong done me, is less than nothing, 
even in my own estimation, to that done the nation. To neglect 
forestalling such a conspiracy, when informed of it as the presi- 
dent has been, is a great and gross violation of the executive 
duties. [42] 

To give such an authority as he did to his agent, is to set 

119 



at naught our great charter, and the limitations of powers where- 
with we have deemed it material to our liberties and the per- 
petuity of our rights to environ and entrench our executive. 

To order, or to sanction or ratify such outrages as Wilkinson 
has committed, is a prostration of that part of the constitution 
most intimately connected with the citizen's liberty. 

But that the great chief of the nation should utter even a scin- 
tilla of falsehood when standing up to inform the American body, 
has in it something so stupendously monstrous, as to eclipse the 
whole catalogue of crimes in individuals; even treason itself. 
Whether therefore it be set down to malice, federalism, or candor, 
I care not, but I solemnly assure you, that were I in congress, I 
would move an impeachment against Thomas Jefferson, for his 
negligent and flagitious conduct relative to this conspiracy. 

Countrymen, 
Nothing has given me greater astonishment and concern than 
the alarming behaviour of the senate. It seems as if the influence 
of that brigadier-general had poisoned the whole great fountain 
of executive power. Look at the law passed all in a jerk by the 
senate to suspend the habeas corpus^^^ — At the very time, when 
throughout America, it was known that the cloud had discharged 
all its lightning and the danger was over — At a time when the 
documents before the executive shewed that the conspiracy was 
thoroughly crushed: — all this — for what, countrymen? to hood- 
wink you — to dupe and deceive the people; to cheat the people 
into a forged, fictitious, counterfeit acknowledgment, that the 
citizens had been abused, as they have from good cause apparently. 
Thus to bring off their general. 

Countrymen, I endeavored to arrest those doings, and 
with my whole heart bent on doing it ; but whoever imagines that 
I will justify an abuse of the law, and bill of rights against a 
citizen, unless the country's safety absolutely depends on it, is 
much mistaken. I declare to you that not the slightest shade of 
personal motive was mingled with my proceedings. I now regret 
exceedingly, that I should bring Mr. Burr's name before you, be- 
cause he is fallen and unfortunate. In a different course of for- 
tune he would probably have been a shining character — especially 
in military life. 

^-^ Annals of Congress, Jan. 26, 1807. 

1 20 



In the above pages do not imagine that I intend to disparage 
the democratic class of our citizens; but I do mean to point out 
to you the folly of considering this name, or that, as indicating 
friendship to the community and a claim to your confidence. 

I have omitted a point of respect equally due to myself and 
my successor (Mr. Bibb.)^^^ — Let no stranger imagine me dis- 
satisfied with the man by whom I am supplanted; indeed I am 
not ; he is a man of talents ; a sterling fellow ; and a true Amer- 
ican. — When public clamor was loudest, after Burr's acquital, 
he came to Frankfort, and condemned the people's error in the 
most public and independent manner. Should a similar crisis 
occur, I have no doubt he will act much as I did ; with more judg- 
ment and ability, I will not deny, but his object will be the same 
with mine. 



Ge;nsraIv Wilkinson, 
You feel deeply aggrieved, I have no doubt, by this pamphlet. 
Sir, the courts are open to you ; and that you may have no diffi- 
culty in select[43]ing the actionable words I now distinctly 
state, "That you have been, for years, a pensioner of Spain, and 
have held secret intelligence with that power; and you were en- 
gaged in Burr's conspiracy and deserted him." 

JOSEPH HAMILTON DAVEISS. 
Cornland, 22d May, 1807. 



The first rough sketch of the president's communication to 
congress, on the subject of the conspiracy, translated into 
prose, and embellished with sundry matters of fact, never 
heretofore in print. 



JANUARY 1 8th, 1807. 



Gentlemen of the senate and house of representatifues, 

About twelve months ago, I was informed by letter from Ken- 
tucky, that intrigues were there secretly carried on by traitors, 
whose designs were a seperation of the western states from the 
nation in favor of Spain, and that a gentleman of high rank in 

"^George Bibb had succeeded Thurston as circuit judge in Nov., 1804, 
and filled Clay's place in State Legislature. — Palladium, Nov. 17, 1804. 

121 



our army, had for many years, been clandestinely a correspondent 
of the Spanish government, and a pensioner of that power. 

My informant was a man of undoubted integrity, but one who 
thought in politics after the manner in which we call heresy, so 
I paid little regard to it, not even thinking worth while to desire 
any one of the true faith to look into the matter. I determined 
to reserve myself for events. Sundry other communications, 
from the same hand, reached me soon after, and the communi- 
cator of his own motion, undertook a journey to collect informa- 
tion and documents for the developement of the plot, but not 
being supported by the executive as he thought he ought, he de- 
clined the pursuit. 

However, on the 14th of July he gave other and further 
views on the subject, stating to me that the object was to revo- 
lutionize the Spanish provinces and the western states, and to 
form them into one government. By another letter dated 14th 
August, he stated distinctly what had been delivered by one of 
the leading conspirators, in confidence to a citizen whom he en- 
deavored to seduce into the scheme, and was in full and complete 
corroboration of his letters of the previous month, and a specifi- 
cation of the particulars of the plot, whose general bearing he 
at first announced. But inasmuch as the latter communications 
varied from the first, with respect to the interest which Spain 
was to have in the event, and some other features, I concluded it 
might be a mere federal trick of our anti-revolutionary enemies. 

However, about the latter end of September, some other in- 
timations reached me to the same effect. I began now to think 
there was something going on, but not having any idea that Mr. 
Burr would attempt to surprise us, or hurry the nation out of 
the paths of peace, I waited one whole month, to wit, till the 
latter end of October; and the secretary of Orleans being here, 
and about to return back, I thought it well enough to desire him 
to go through Ohio and the western states ; and gave him full 
powers to do or to undo as I myself could in every event. 

Indeed, when I gave this power I did not reflect, or examine 
on the legality of it; for I had little idea it would be necessary 
to use it in a country so highly prosperous, and where every man, 
in one sort or other, exer[44]cises the sovereign power. Pre- 
vious to this, but about the same time the objects of the conspiracy 
began to be perceived, and we had advice of suspicious persons 
and preparations of boats and stores on the Ohio and its waters. — 

122 



But although they began to be perceived, yet they were not per- 
ceivable — so as to be interdicted by a proclamation, which I call 
a specific measure. In short, gentlemen, although I sent my agent 
forward, yet when I cast my eye over the state of the country, 
I thought it was all smoke, and still slept quietly. 

What ground could there be for any insurrection, where every 
man was not only as free as he wished, but a sovereign to boot? 

However my agent arrived at Ohio state, just after that state 
was thrown into commotion by the proceedings of Blannerhasset 
and others; and the preparation of such a fleet at Marietta and 
other places; but before the thing came to the crisis which it 
visibly and rapidly approached, my agent spoke secretly to the 
goveror, so as to get the credit of the whole, should events make 
it desirable; and my agent actually witnessed, with his own eyes, 
the efforts of the commonwealth to arrest the progress of the 
conspirators. 

He then proceeded to Kentucky, to put the energies of the state 
into action. Previous, however, to his arrival, the attorney of that 
district, from whom I had received the communication first 
stated, not knowing what the government intended, nor imagining 
that they cared or intended doing anything about it, threw the 
barriers of the law in the way of the conspiracy, and did every- 
thing in his power to arrest the project by calling upon the most 
notorious and leading adherents of the faction to testify against 
their chief. But what by one means and what by another, the 
conspirators and a numerous class of patriotic friends of the 
old school in Kentucky, burst through the gate and trod him and 
the barrier both in the mud. This gave Burr such an unfortunate 
opportunity of hastening his equipments that the flotilla crossed 
the falls on the i6th December to the amount of fourteen boats 
in a fine flood, under command of rear-admiral Blannerhasset. 

Soon after this, to wit, about the 21st or 2d of December my 
agent arrived at Frankfort to rouse the energies of that state, and 
did it so effectually that by a law of the 23d of December a briga- 
dier-general with his power was ordered to be stationed above 
the falls,^^^ (over which the flotilla had passed seven days before 
the act passed) so that should any attempt be made to row back 
the flotilla up over the falls, it would fall into the clutches of the 
general as in a fish trap, and be secured. And in consequence 

i"See Barry Papers, Amer. Hist. Rev., Vol. XVI, 330. 

123 



of the same law, orders were sent to the mouth of Cumberland 
(three hundred miles from Frankfort) to station a regiment there 
for the same purpose. 

But here I run before the due order of events; (for all these 
things were unknown to me when they happened.) 

On the 25th of November I received a letter from general 
Wilkinson, by which, to my unspeakable astonishment and terror, 
I found that the plot described in all the previous communications 
I had received did exist sure enough, and a terrible one it was 
too; and on the point of explosion. (Good God, says I! can it 
be possible! What can infuriate Burr to this anglo-monarchico 
conduct! What will become of me should Wilkinson have been 
shaved and tied by the whore of England ? [ ) ] 

But upon reading a little farther I found that that high oflFicer 
had got [45] scared at the looks of the storm he and Burr had 
blown up, found that it might blow down his own marque, and 
hastened to risque himself, by alarming me to the utmost of his 
power. I now saw the cloud darkening down over my head, 
while I thought the weather was clear, and never was president 
so terrified by vice-president, as I by this little sir Aaron. Only 
think what a hurry of spirits, what a hysterical whirlwind of 
fidges I was in, to be waked from my slumbers in the dead of 
night, with the sound of a storm just at hand, and a universal 
cry that the ship was on Cape Hatteras. 

Now had I all the parts of a president on my hands at once, 
and such a potheration as it threw me into you can't imagine. I 
sent expresses, couriers, heralds and agents in all directions. 
I sent a herald at arms to Wilkinson, begging him to stop at noth- 
ing now, that the government was at a dead lift. I told the herald 
neither to eat nor sleep by the way — stop for nothing — and should 
he find one of Phoebus's coach horses at grass by the road, just 
saddle, mount, and stick the spur into him, without saying a word 
to anybody. And should he fall in with Mercury, and find him 
disengaged from Mr. Burr's employ, just hand the paper to him, 
and beg him to push his best, for God's sake, and he would eter- 
nally oblige me ; for I should be ruined forever if this thing went 
wrong. 

Everywhere had I dispatches to send, for ordering, planning, 
prevention and punishment. 

It was a time that tried horses souls. 



124 



While these efforts were making at the capital, my agent in 
the west was most assiduously employed in his useful labors. 

Having secured the exertions of Kentucky in the important 
matter above stated; on the 23d of December he left Frankfort 
for Nashville, to put into activity the means of that state also. 
Although by the communications first mentioned I had intima- 
tions that this enterprize was working in Tennessee also, which 
was strongly fortified by the known fact of Mr. Burr's having 
spent so much of his time there, and the people's fondness for 
him, yet as the word boats was not mentioned to me, I trusted to 
the virtue of the proclamation in that quarter, which would fully 
check anything but boats; but having lately learned that boats 
were building there, I on the 19th of December dispatched com- 
munications and orders there; but as I am now fully informed 
that on the 22d of December the boats cut loose from the mouth 
of Cumberland in a fine flood (about or a little after the Ohio 
boats which passed the falls on the i6th), and as my agent left 
Frankfort the day after the event took place and the lazv passed 
there, and as he and the law had three hundred miles to go to 
the scene of action ; and as the scene of action had started one 
day before them, three hundred miles ahead, with a good flood, 
mounted on boats which would neither tire or get out of wind; 
and again : as my messenger aforesaid had six hundred miles to 
go and only three days the start of the scene of action; / have 
some doubts whether either my agent, my messenger, the proc- 
lamation, or the law of Kentucky, can do anything to arrest these 
boats, or those from the falls.'^^^ More especially, as in twelve 
hour's sail they would be out of Kentucky, and in about sixty 
more out of Tennessee state also. Matters however, are so ar- 
ranged by my agent, and the law he got passed in Kentucky, that 
should head winds meet and blow [46] this fleet back, they would 
soon be reinstated in their former views of their own danger. 
To be honest with you gentlemen, my agent kicked up a dust 
wherever he went, but did nothing at all. 

On the whole, this armament can threaten no serious danger 
to New Orleans, inasmuch as my general is there, and with the 
honor^^^ of a soldier, and the fidelity of a good citizen, is zealous 

"^This note in original. — "Read this paragraph in the communication." 

'^5 An expression used by Wilkinson at times when his actions might be 
regarded with suspicion. 

125 



to overact his part, so as to wipe off or redress every suspicion of 
his treachery towards Burr. 

Having mentioned to you my haste and anxiety to communi- 
cate orders and wishes to the general, I have the pleasure to say 
that I find by late advices from him, he needed no spur. For on 
the moment of his apostacy to Burr, and his being reinstated in 
his former views of his own duty, he burst the Lillipution ties 
with which the whore of England had bound him, and also the 
Lillipution ties of the constitution with which that same harlot 
bound us all in our first slumbers, and he blazed out a comet of 
patriotism, consuming every thing in his way, terrifying the city, 
frightening the women and children, and seizing and hiding every- 
body he hated or suspected where nobody could find them. 

Indeed I must own gentlemen that the failure of the enterprise 
has been wholly owing to this man's betraying Burr, and to no 
act of mine whatever. For in the first place I got no information 
that awoke me until his arrival, so I should have issued no proc- 
lamation untiT my agent had written me, which would have de- 
layed that matter until the blow was struck, unless my agent or 
my governor Claiborne had paralised them all by their presence. 

I rejoiced when I heard that Wilkinson had shipped the trai- 
tors, like live stock, and they were coming round to the Chesa- 
peake. 

But one thing lies a little heavy on my mind — it is this : at 
my first inauguration, I particularly noted in my creed, the sub- 
ordination of the military to the civil power. — But now the thing 
is sadly reversed — my general has trodden the law in the dust ; 
set at naught my courts to their faces ; and swaddled my governor 
in his sash, and laid him to bed, like a great baby. But gentlemen 
beware instinct — instinct is a great matter. This general felt 
himself in a most uncommon predicament, from which nothing 
could extricate him but uncommon measures. I would blame 
the general, but that I am so glad to think what a scrape I've got 
out of by his means. 

In my same speech I mentioned the sanctity of habeas cor- 
pus. — So I do still. But that city of Orleans is now so stormy, 
that there was no expectation of the poor men accused getting 
justice there, so I think the general has done for the best to ship 
them here, duty free, just to see them have right done them. 
While therefore I do not deflect in the slightest degree from my 
first creed, I must approve of those men being sent one thousand 

126 



miles of stormy sea under an irregular arrest, to be brought to this 
place where there can be a good sound regular arrest, and they 
be given up to the functionaries of law, who shall direct both 
the place and process of trial. The executive means, is a great 
advantage in favor of this course : For although our constitution 
and nation are expressly jealous of any intermixture of depart- 
ments, yet at New Orleans the advantage of that court using ex- 
ecutive and even military means, are so apparent, that no doubt 
but the judges here will feel the importance of such aid. 

Surmises have been hazarded, gentlemen, that this enterprize 
has received foreign aid, but this idea is without foundation or 
probability. Is [47] there any instance of a nation while spinning 
out negociations (as Spain has with us) endeavoring to strike a 
blow at her adversary? Let history answer the question. 

Indeed the unaccountable length of those negociations and 
the troops on the Sabine look a little mysterious, but we may 
safely confide, that a due estimate of interest as well as character 
will induce the Spaniards to do us the justice we are bound to 
expect. 

Accept locx) salutations. 

T.J. 



Some notes left out in the communication, finally dressed up and 
sent to congress. 



YOU will observe, gentlemen, in one of the papers sent here- 
with, a plan for defending Orleans. In this a river fleet, gun- 
boats, bomb-ketches, and floating batteries are recommended; 
these things would so greatly increase the public expenditure, that 
I would submit to the national legislature the wisdom and ex- 
pediency of continuing to defend that important pass as we now 
do, by the simple contrivance of a floating general — one who will 
intrigue with our enemies but still fly off in time. Indeed were 
such an expedient used with a few gun-boats at the harbor and 
city of New York it might effectually quiet that city, and put an 
end to the pesterment they gave us about fortifying their port — 
and if made for each port of the country, the divisions between 
states would soon disappear, and we would all amalgamate into 
one homogeneous mass. 

Finally gentlemen, the said attorney for Kentucky, having 

127 



drawn on himself the enmity of many good republicans of that 
country, by his efforts to save the country from the mania of 
Burrism and this enterprise, I have thought it best for the infant 
eztablishment to turn him out. For like all other politicians of 
the world, I execrate Macheavelli, but like all of them, faithfully 
pursue his lessons ; and in this, I adopt the idea of Caesar Borgia, 
who sent a just and strict governor to Romagna, to put a licen- 
tious and refractory people in order; which being effected in the 
course of a year, to the displeasure of the malfactors and their 
friends — Borgia went down thither, and finding the object fully 
answered, he hanged the governor in the market place to please 
the malcontents. Thus bringing the state into order by means 
of the governor, and their killing him to become popular with the 
insurgents. 

Besides, gentlemen, the idea I expressed to the merchants of 
New Haven some years ago, I find still to gather strength from 
experience — that the federalists never die nor resign — and in 
whatsoever state they remain in office, the doors of honor and 
confidence were burst open in vain.^^® 



POSTSCRIPT. 

From certain expressions in the foregoing pages, it might be 
inferred that I approve the administration of Mr. Adams ; but 
I do not. I approve the system he intended to pursue, but I con- 
demn his manner of pursuing it. He intended to pursue Wash- 
ington's principia, but he so marred or missed it, that he brought 
great scandal and obloquy on that system of politics, which in my 
opinion went as far towards democracy and republicanism, as it 
is possible for any system to go and yet live even for one century 
in times of peace. 

To the majority it may seem unintelligible, that I should 
neither approve the past or present administration, for in com- 
mon view those seem to fill both sides of the question — so to 
render myself intelligible, I shall give a cursory view of our whole 
course of government, which I acknowledge I rather seek oc- 
casion to do — though I regret that the very contracted limits of 
this tract, will reduce what I shall offer to a hasty glance. 

'2«See Jefferson's Writings {Ford's Ed.), VIII, 70. 

128 



Sketch Of The Political Profile Of Our Three 

Presidents, 

IT is very difficult to speak justly of men we admire or dislike. 
He who attempts it in times of faction must look for his reward 
in his own consciousness ; for few will agree that he is impartial, 
and still fewer that he is just in his decisions. By looking back 
at party questions some years after the crisis are past, we are 
sensible how false our reasonings and views were, when influenced 
by the heat of the moment ; so it is not to be wondered at if one 
is found incorrect in speaking of recent party transactions. 

The question on which America was divided, when the present 
constitution was under consideration, is the same on which the 
factions were formed in President Washington's time, and on 
which they now are divided, and I have no doubt will be, while 
the present constitution exists ; for both branches of the contro- 
versy flow out of that instrument, to wit : — How far the govern- 
ment shall be national, or how far a government of states. The 
anti-federalists of 1788 opposed the constitution, because it would 
make the government too national, and diminish the powers of the 
states; the present anti-federalists pursue the same principle — 
their judgment is, that ours should be as little a national govern- 
ment, and as much a government of states as it can he under the 
constitution. The federalists intend that it shall he as much a 
national government, and as little a government of states as it 
can he under the constitution. This I understand to be the true 
point of difference between the parties. The consequences may 
be easily imagined. One party reposes the American prosperity 
in the strength of government, the other in its weakness. One 
longs to be rid of federal courts, mint, revenue laws, bankrupt 
laws, navy, and everything which can bring federal government 
to the eye or mind of the people. These hold [49] out congress 
to be a kind of diet, where the ambassadors of the states under 
the name senators, meet and represent the 17 sovereign powers 
to treat together about the common defence and welfare. So 
far has this idea gone, that you see the states that have returned 
to right sentiments — in their public councils, say that they will 
instruct their senators, and request their representatives to take 
certain measures. The other party says that as far as comes 
within the sphere of congress, we are to be viewed as a national, 

129 



consolidated government, (though out of that sphere we are a 
government of states) and that the congress are our true and 
proper legislators, without any one characteristic of a peculiar or 
extraordinary nature; they say that the national government is 
full weak to answer either its external, or internal purposes, when 
all its powers are brought into action. The national welfare 
therefore requires that it be displayed in its fullest plenitude, and 
be made as much our domestic government, as the state of society 
will find uses for it. 

President Washington at once lent his whole power to na- 
tionalise the government and invigorate it — he had soon and 
deeply felt the folly of calculating any thing on the simultaneous 
unanimity of thirteen soverign states — many a sleepless night had 
it cost him to save the people from falling victims to this dearly 
beloved curse. — But he had to begin at a very gentle pace — public 
stomach was yet puny, it could not digest much federalism at 
once — the government had just been born, and it was without 
treasury, without revenue, without resources, without laws, ar- 
senals, navy. Had nothing but a young, brave, enthusiastic nation, 
a vast gallaxy of heroes, sages, and talents, and a chief who stood 
above all rivalship, and was able to combine all its powers, and 
lead them towards greatness. Every administration is character- 
ised by the individual and personal character of the man who 
leads it. None more so than this. His power lay in the soundness 
of his judgment, in practical matters, and his great secret was a 
predominant wish to judge right. It will be said that many have 
this wish; so they have, but it is not the predominant influence, 
it is combined with some other wish or feeling which is stronger 
than it. Personal feelings whether of friendship or dislike, or 
party purposes, never found their way into this man's bosom ; 
he had that firmness, and that loftiness of soul which could never 
be reached by these vulgar motives. The former part of his life 
proves this ; never did any man give so exalted a proof of his 
greatness of mind as he did, in adhering to his own course of 
warfare, notwithstanding the cries and contumely and reproaches 
of the people, and notwithstanding the increasing danger of be- 
ing supplanted in his command by consequence of it. This could 
only be equalled by the just and noble noble conduct he adopted 
toward a man fixed on by a faction as his rival, and by whom 
the fairest hopes of glory and success were cruelly cut up in one 
hour at Ad^onmouth. All the world must agree that such a man 

130 



was born to lead, and that his administration is wholly untinged 
by party. Yet this great man's course in the government, though 
worthy absolute approbation, was not free from its intervening 
faults — these in my judgment, were the following. 

1st. He appointed the Chief Justice of the United States an 
ambassador.^^'^ 

This was breaking in upon what I would have a fundamental 
principle, that is, that you ought to insulate and cut off a judge 
from all extraneous inducements and expectations ; never present 
him the jora of promotion ; for no influence is more powerful in 
the human mind than hope — it will in time cause some judges to 
lay themselves out for presidential favor, and [50] when ques- 
tions of state occur, this will greatly affect the public confidence in 
them, and sometimes deservedly. No district judge should be made 
a circuit judge, no judge whatever should be made Chief Justice; 
every vacancy in the bench should be filled out of the barr direct ; 
thus you cut off from every member of the bench, all possible idea 
of an ulterior object, and so fix his impartiality as far as human 
means can do it. The moment a man is placed on the bench, 
whether it be District Circuit or Supreme Court, he ought to say 
to himself, "now I am at the highest point I can ever reach in 
this course ; this is the last appointment I shall ever receive from 
government." 

2d. He kept a minister at the court of France,^^^ whose senti- 
ments and conduct were utterly repugnant to his own, and only 
congenial to those of a certain faction here, who were smitten 
with all the French mania, because it was so corroborative of their 
anti-federal sentiments. This has been a source of an immense 
train of evils to America, and entailed on president Adams the 
principal difficulties of his administration. This minister mingled 
souls with the wild jacobins — gave them vast ideas of the number 
and cordiality of their Gallic friends here, and made them see 
and feel that the government and people of America were on dif- 
ferent sides — the people longed for the fraternal hug, the govern- 
ment only was against France ; what a dreadful curse ! Look at 
his book^^® — look at the president Barras' speech^^" — I have it 

12^ John Jay, first Chief Justice after the estabHshment of the government 
of the United States. 

1-* Monroe. 

^"^^ A view of the conduct of the administration in the management of our 
foreign affairs for the years 1794, 5 and 6, by James Monroe, published by 
Bache in the fall of 1797, after Monroe's return from Paris. 

"0 McMaster, Vol. II, p. 370. 

131 



not here, but the English of it is this, "farewell dear brother, 
we deplore that the Americans are saddled by a cursed govern- 
ment, which is going contrary to their views and wishes, which 
are ours also — we send no greeting or word to your government, 
but tell the good people we love them, that in you we see their 
representative." The mournful fact is, that man was a French 
minister, appointed and kept in pay by America. Though very 
honest, he could not judge right, because his wish to do so was 
weaker than several others wishes. See what a rage France fell 
into on his recal ; this proves it conclusively. As soon as Pinckney 
came within hail, he was ordered off. 

I am astonished that president Washington should have kept 
him there one day after his conduct about the treaty of London 
came to light. Whoever reads the documents, will see clearly 
by attending to them with their dates and circumstances, that 
the treaty of London went down well enough at Paris, until such 
time as they got information from America}^'^ Do you think they 
would let their fine growing party here fall out of countenance? 
Would they not act up to the limits that party predicted? Yes, 
they did too. 

3d. His idea of the power of congress concerning that treaty, 
tho' partly right, was in my opinion partly wrong. A resolution 
was carried to call on him for the diplomatic correspondence, 
instructions and papers relative to that treaty; he refused, and 
considered it as an encroachment. As far as it called for the 
correspondence and papers it was so, but as far as it called for 
the instructions, and as far as it presumed the power of congress 
to judge of the treaty and refuse to carry it into effect if bad, 
I do not approve the president's opinion, though I am not clear 
on the point. It brings to my mind the question about the con- 
stitutionality of a law, of which each department has a right to 
judge for itself as far as its intervention is necessary to the effec- 
tuation of the law. — So here, every department or branch of a 
department whose intervention is necessary to the effectuation of 
a treaty, has a right to look into it and judge of it. [51] 

I observe that the English house of commons asserted, and 
finally carried this point about the treaty of Utrecht in the year 
1713. That treaty contained commercial regulations highly un- 

"'See Writings of Monroe (Hamilton's Ed.), Vol. II, where his letters to 
Madison and the Secretary of State show the feeling that prevailed in France. 

132 



favorable to England ; the house of commons would not effectu- 
ate that part of it, and it fell. 

4th. I do not approve of the law for the bank, though I have 
no doubt it is highly convenient to government and to commerce, 
yet I do not discover a power in the constitution to pass it, unless 
in the district of Columbia. 

With respect to the treaty of London, it seems to me proper 
that reparation ought to have been made for the slaves and 
property carried away contrary to the treaty of 1783; and that 
government ought in no event to have assumed the debts to sub- 
jects without some adequate reparation being made for the de- 
tention of the northern garrisohs. But it is very probable that 
the best treaty was made that could be obtained, and I would 
rather have taken this than went to war. The opposition were 
vociferous for hostility — they thought we could make such treaty 
with England as we pleased. It will be shortly seen what vast 
improvements they will make on the commercial treaty of 1794. 
That they have sent home is a precious one indeed — it engages us 
to league against France. At Washington that is stated to be no 
part of the treaty but a diplomatic note; but I observe Lord 
Howick states in parliament that it is a part of the treaty. 

So much for the administration of this man whose general 
course I exceedingly admire, whose faults I look on without 
severity, because I am convinced he labored to avoid all fault; 
and whose leading trait was so highly exemplary — a sense of 
justice and right above the reach of all passion and feeling. He 
is the only man I know of since Aristides to whom the verse of 
Euripides applies: 

"To be and not to seem is this man's maxim; 

"His mind reposes on its proper wisdom, ■ 

"And wants no other praise." 



President Adams, 

THIS was as honest a man as ever lived, but he was so sub- 
ject to defluxions of feeling and passion on his mind, that the cor- 
rectness of his judgment rarely corresponded to his general wish. 
Besides there was a natural unsteadiness, a want of harmony 
and system in his views — the current of his mind came like an 
uneven wind — in flaws. I have sometimes doubted whether this 

133 



appearance did not flow from two other circumstances : one of 
which was, that his own judgment being in favor of monarchy, 
yet he being too honest to attempt insinuating it clandestinely into 
the American police — he was forced to act continually a studied 
character foreign from his own opinion, and of course unsteady ; 
the other is, that he was surrounded by a body of aids, who had 
been heated in the furnace of party hotter than himself, and who 
.always rode with spurs, and sometimes without bridles — these 
often gave him his motion, and at times breaking from them he 
assumed his own, and thus presented a fluctuation in his deci- 
sions. I have no doubt that his suddenly reining in when his party 
would have had him declare war against France was the cause of 
his being thrown to the ground much sooner than he would have 
been. [52] 

I have two leading objections to this man's administration. 

1st. Money seemed to be valued at too low a rate, and handled 
too freely; and 2d. Every thing was done too much in the spirit 
of party. By the first let it not be imagined that I allude to any 
1*"*^' dillapidations of him or his officers : such imputations had a vast 
effect on public mind, but they have been since proved infamous 
calumnies. I mean that the drains of expenditure were too nu- 
merous, the desire to increase the catalogue of officers was too 
great. I am not sufficiently acquainted with the channels of com- 
merce to judge of the legations to Lisbon, Berlin, and the Hague, 
or of mr. Jefferson's vacation of them, and they are but trifles in 
themselves. I disapprove of his appointing his son a minister at 
the Hague and afterwards Berlin,^^^ but a more intimate ac- 
quaintance with the New-England customs excites mere charity 
for this; providing for ones own connections is a very common 
use of power there. H a gentleman from Virginia should behave 
as general Dearborne has done, sticking his own family into all 
the offices of his department, nothing save the utmost party heat, 
could check the whole patrician corps of Virginia from cursing 
him in the open streets. Yet I suspect it is not the subject of 
particular remark in New-England. 

His war measures were a leading objection to him, but I cor- 
dially support him in these. He appreciated truly the importance 
of supporting the dignity of the nation, and the still greater impor- 

'^2 J. Q. Adams was appointed minister resident at the Hague, May, 1794. 
For his appointment to Berlin, see Monroe's Writing {Hamilton's Ed.), Vol. 
Ill, p. 106. 



tance of keeping alive the military spirit of which no nation ever 
gave more hopeful presages than ours. Our respectability was 
much enhanced in Europe by exhibiting a resentment so highly 
American, tho' our means were yet small. As to the army, noth- 
ing ever so much surprised me as to find in 1801 that the whole 
republican party were in the dark as to its objects — they sus- 
pected it was to make war on our people, and many other things 
equally probable and practicable. The inestimable Hamilton who 
understood this thing fully as well or better than mr. Adams did, 
told me, it was intended to declare war against Spain, (from 
whom we had received many abuses in the West Indies) at the 
same time with France, and to march and seize the Floridas and 
New Orleans, after which the war would shape itself. I am sorry 
war was not declared when it ought to have been. 

For a doceur of $50,000 he could have avoided this great ex- 
penditure, or at most the purchase of a few Dutch rescriptions 
with it ; but he could not submit. Our present glorious chief will 
never be brought into scrapes in this way ; he will not buy peace 
neither — no: nor make any loan committing our neutrality, but 
he will buy a sand-bar in the Gulph of Darien,^^^ or some such 
thing, and give France and Spain as much money as they want, 
provided they will make peace into the bargain. Look at T. M. 
Randolph's letter to the people session before last ; every man of 
sense who sees it will swear it was composed at Head-quarters. 
Their s[c]heme is to pay France and Spain two millions for East 
Florida, provided they will into the bargain give up West Florida, 
which honestly is ours already, and settle the western boundaries 
of Louisiana, and adjust our claims for spoliations. I like the 
idea — it puts me in mind of the hucster women at public places, 
who to avoid the laws against retailing spirits, sell you an ounce 
of bread for nine-pence, and then give you a half pint of whiskey 
gratis. 

3d. This administration seems remarkable for a course of true 
and proper motives pursued in a wrong way. For instance : was 
ever any thing more indiscreet than the sedition law at the mo- 
ment when public mind was decidedly in favor of the administra- 
tion, and the minority were redoubling [53] their efforts to avoid 
being, swallowed up. It certainly was a law perfectly just and 
necessary, but it happened at a very unfortunate season. Noth- 

"3 West Florida. 



ing could have been more opportune for the minority — still they 
could not have succeeded had not the violent spirit of the adminis- 
tration assisted them in alarming the people. We could never 
expect great unanimity among men against a law to punish lying ; 
but the people in many parts of America were fully possessed of 
the idea that the law was made to suppress opinion and truth. 
As to its constitutionality, tho' out of my course, I cannot resist 
the desire I feel to bestow a paragraph upon it. It may be said 
that the matter is past, and is now an old thing not worth speak- 
ing of — I say no countrymen — this is a very proper season to 
treat these controversial subjects. The heat of the day is past — 
you can now look back and reflect, without the interference of 
your passions, which infallibly mislead us all, and by forming a 
satisfactory judgment of the past, you are much assisted in form- 
ing one of the present and future. 

As to its constitutionality, no lawyer will deny that in a con- 
stitution as in a statute, introducing a new law, affirmative words 
imply a negative, and e converso. For example, when the consti- 
tution says that the legislature of each state shall elect two sen- 
ators to congress, a negative is implied that they shall not elect 
more than two ; nor shall these two be elected otherwise than by 
the legislature. On the other hand when it says that no state 
shall without the consent of congress lay an import, an affirmative 
is implied, that it may do so with the consent of congress; and so 
on throughout the instrument. When it says the people have a 
right peaceably to assemble and petition for redress of grievances, 
a negative is implied that they shall not assemble with force and 
arms for that purpose, or that under color of this right they shall 
not assemble in such a manner as to excite to insurrection against 
the government. Now come to the article in question. "Congress 
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor 
prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Here the negative expres- 
sions imply a plain affirmative, that Congress may make laws 
securing and protecting the free exercise of religion. If the per- 
secutions of the old world should be attempted here between cath- 
olics and protestants or the like. Congress ought to interpose and 
secure the free exercise of religion. "Nor abridging the freedom 
of speech" — Now when the word freedom is used, I understand 
it to mean a rational liberty comporting with the social condition 
of mankind in a community. 

136 



It never can mean especially in a social compact, that exemp- 
tion from all restraint and control, which implies the state of 
nature and tends to reproduce it. Let us be more explanatory — 
Is a speech calling upon the people to take arms and oppose the 
government out of the reach of congress? Cannot this be pun- 
ished, or is a law for that purpose an abridgement of the freedom 
of speech ? Again, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms 
shall not be infringed." This is a freedom of the very some holy 
nature with the other ; but will any man venture to say that con- 
gress abridges or infringes the sacred freedom by declaring that 
none shall come armed to an election, or into a court of justice, 
or place of divine worship ; the freedom of using arms as in speech 
is a rational liberty, and to be used, but it has its bounds. This 
shews you I hope, that my view is correct in saying that the nega- 
tive words which say Congress shall not abridge the freedom of 
speech or of the press give them a positive right to pass any law 
comport[^4]ing with the national nature of their duty, upon 
either of these points, correcting any abuses, and which leave 
their true political freedom uninfringed. 

It will here be asked, can congress make laws to forbid pro- 
fane swearing, as not comprised within the freedom of speech — 
Can they say how arms shall be worn, and what and when — Can 
they say what solemnities shall be observed to render lawful a 
meeting of the people? 

I answer — No. The duties or powers of congress cannot be 
extended to local police : those of a national nature only are within 
their sphere : to enquire what are these, the nature of a national 
constitution must be observed and is particularised in this instru- 
ment itself to be the general welfare; for although I am not one 
of those who consider the general words of that instrument as 
superceding the special, yet neither do I consider the special as 
superceding the general; but that the true construction of this, 
as of all other papers in law, is that which will make all the words 
stand together, and give each a full and rational import; and if 
any conflict should then appear, the general words ought to yield 
to the special : but along with this rule I lay down another, which 
would again become a party question — that is : in every fair and 
candid doubt, the bias of the mind should fall in favor of the na- 
tionality of the government. Congress shall not point out how 
arms are to be worn ; but they may say there are certain times 

137 



and places in which the citizens shall not wear arms; and there is 
a certain kind of popular assemblage which shall not be lawful. 

Much stress is laid upon the 12th amendatory article, that all 
powers not delegated remain; but I never could see any thing 
there, but a superfluous precaution ; the case was so without such 
article. It is said that no power can be taken to provide for gen- 
eral welfare on account of this article. Why — how so ? The first 
power and duty of congress is "to provide for the common de- 
fence and general welfare of the United States :" all powers not 
given are reserved ; but this general power is given, therefore not 
reserved. So the constitution is not one jot or tittle otherwise 
than if this article had not been there. 

One of the first national ideas must be the preservation of 
the government itself. It was often asked, why extend this privi- 
lege to the president? it is not the privilege of the man I con- 
tend for — it is the people's privilege; it is the privilege of the 
community, that their tranquility shall not be disturbed by slan- 
ders on their public magistrates. Justice is done incidentally to 
the individual citizen, but the object is the people. I demand, 
was it a public or a personal matter, that in 1800 we should be 
so infamously imposed on by detailed and circumstantial accounts 
of Pickering having plundered the public chest, and Dexter hav- 
ing burnt the war office to screen himself from examination?^^* 
Ninety-nine men of one hundred believed these accounts (in the 
Westward) : for my part I had no doubt of Pickering's peculation, 
seeing a copy from the books of his office; and when I came to 
see how we had been abused, and brought to cry out against and 
denounce as villains, just an honest officers, and change our ad- 
ministration, sufficient to put to death the imposter who had dis- 
turbed the land, by bearing false witness in so important a point. 

Again it was said, let the president bring his action of slander. 
When we look at the past 18 years, and see how the president has 
been abused, and find that no president has chosen thus to right 
himself, it appears to me, we should set down as wholly fanciful 
such an idea. If Mr. Adams has sued for the slanders on him. 
he must have had at least one dozen of agents [55] in constant 
pay, to attend his suits. And besides, what an unpardonable pros- 
tration of the dignity of the nation? Add to this, it is positively 

"^ McMaster, Vol. II, 517-519. 

138 



improper that he should sue — for he appoints and removes at 
pleasure the marshall who selects the jury. 

Give me leave to add one more observation. It is repeated 
that a personal act of slander ought to be brought: this, to my 
understanding, is giving up the point of controversy to all intents 
and purposes ; it is admitting that the act of the printer is unlaw- 
ful in itself, because it would subject to an action, then how in 
the name of sense, can it come within the legitimate meaning of 
the word freedom. If I have a right to maintain an action of 
slander against you, the proceeding is predicated on t^e single 
idea, that you have transgressed the lawful freedom of speech. 
Your liberty of speech extends to the limits of truth — there it 
stops. And when it is asked, how far congress may go with their 
laws against libels, I answer there is one fixed and infallible touch- 
stone — the truth. They cannot punish by prosecution and abuse, 
save such as would support a civil action. Many of our state 
constitutions express this idea definitely, declaring the liberty of 
the press, but that the citizens shall be responsible for its abuse. 

So much for this excellent but ill-timed sedition law. 

4. As to the Alien law, I blame the president as the head of 
the ruling party. The evil aimed at was most wisely conceived, 
but the remedy was wrong in principle, and must operate so in 
practice. I consider the influx of aliens into America, as a great 
and serious evil.^^° The emigration of mechanics hither, is highly 
desirable ; but the emigration of your European politician — your 
men of talents — your French Democrats — United Irishmen, &c. 
&c. is an evil never sufficientl deprecated. The emigration of 
foreign printers I consider one of the greatest curses that has ever 
befallen America, under the present government. It was highly 
expedient, when about to enter into a war, that these men should 
be silent and neuter, or take part with the government. I recollect 
that it was said at the time that this was a federal scheme, to 
silence the opposition of aliens; or if they spoke to make them 
speak for the government. To be sure these were among the rea- 
sons; and were ever motives more wise and laudable? In times 
of peace it is excessively impertinent and indecorous for foreign- 
ers to be meddling in our affairs ; and it often may effect our 
foreign relations ; but in times of war it is wholly intolerable, and 
not to be endured but with the most immediate danger. 

"*For the attitude of Kentuckians toward the Alien and Sedition Laws, 
see Marshall, Vol. II, Chap. VI. 



The evil therefore was well conceived — but why put the rem- 
edy in the hands of the president ? This I reprehend, because it 
is certain that he must always go upon report and information, 
restrained to no rules of enquiry ; and the alien very often might 
fall the victim of private malice. An inquest ought to have been 
held upon the warrant of a judge or some civil officer, to inquire 
whether the alien held forth speeches or practices against the 
government; and the finding of the inquest ought to have been 
forwarded to the officer of state : then let the president at his dis- 
cretion have him bound to good behaviour or remove him off. 
I never was able to comprehend the arguments about constitu- 
tionality, which were resolved to the power of the states to admit 
migration or importation until 1808. I do not discover any re- 
pugnancy in inviting a stranger under my roof ; but adding that 
he must not meddle in my family affairs; and if he does, must 
take part with me, or leave my house altogether. It is said by a 
committee in congress, that this clause alluded to slaves ; but 
the word migration [56] seems to have a different bearing. I am 
however inclined to believe that the use of two expressions, mi- 
gration or importation, instead of one, was only precautionary, 
and that the importation of slaves was its only object ; because 
the latter part of the sentence provides for a tax on such persons 
so imported, and because I do not observe that any state ever 
passed a law or resolution on the subject of foreigners emigrating 
here; and this always seemed to me a very strong point in the 
subject, that to render the alien law unconstitutional, it should 
appear that it infringed the actual doings of the states upon that 
subject in which the federal constitution gave them a right to act. 

5. I have always heard it asserted, that persons who desired 
copies of his answers to addresses to be given in evidence when 
prosecuted under the sedition law, were denied. This, if so, was 
as unjustifiable as the late refusal of the republican senate, to give 
Marbury and others copies of their records to be used in a court 
of law in their favour.^^* 

His tax on paper I do not think myself able to speak properly, 
I am not sufficientl acquainted with the state of the American 
nation. In the western country and other thin settlements, it was 
very inconvenient. I am clear that in every free government, 
there ought to be an internal tax, equal to the civil list expenditure. 

'^* Channing, Jeffersonian System, 117-119. 

140 



The multitude only thinks as it feels ; keeping it from feeling & 
you keep it very much from thinking too. The present adminis- 
tration is a strong example of this : they have kept the people from 
knowing that they paid any thing; and by virtue of this infatu- 
ating circumstance, have been able to adopt a course of enervation 
and debility, highly pernicious to the body politic. All the gov- 
ernors and public speakers are crying out "all's well," while the 
fact is, that we but barely hang together under the shadow of a 
national government. The exoneration from taxes charms the 
mass; but it is like the Angel's Book — sweet to the taste, 'but 
bitter in its consequences. Taxation is the placentum which con- 
nects the people to the government. See the deplorable conse- 
quence of Mr. Jefferson's blessing. 

To supply the deficiency of money a sale of land has been 
resorted to ; so that we, a little nation, are scattered over a whole 
world. All the administration of Mr. Adams put together, don't 
weigh against this more than a grain of sand in the scale of worlds. 
His evils, if such they were, could be remedied by a new set of 
governors ; his public debts could be paid off in a few years ; but 
Mr. Jefferson's tree of evil is an immortal evergreen, planted in 
the rock of ages. How is it possible to depopulate a country once 
settled? And who can be so fanciful as to imagine that such a 
vast territory, set with sovereign states, can remain long together? 
Who does not remark the insubordinate and democratic diathesis 
of new countries [?] The national government must either be- 
come too powerful and arbitrary, or we must have divisions, 
which, from the position of land and water, nature says ought 
never to be. 

Mr. Adams' Judiciary bill, was certainly very excellent in my 
judgment; but it had the misfortune which hung over all that 
president's doings — it was passed too much in the spirit of party ; 
not that there was any thing in or about it, but was perfectly 
politic and necessary, but it was passed in an expiring hour, and 
I have no doubt it was contemplated to provide births [sic] for 
federal lawyers. This I believe had an influence in the mode of 
carrying it through ; but I am well satisfied it had none in giving 
the law [57] its features. For were it not for party, I believe all 
the lawyers of America would agree, that it was a great improve- 
ment of the former system. 

141 



I view the fate of this bill as a deep and ever to be lamented 
event : it broke into the sanctity of a character, which our Lycur- 
guses and Solons intended should forever remain in the sacred 
arcana of the temple, untangible by legislative hands. Mr. Adams 
pressed this bill a year before very urgently ; and one was brought 
in but failed : this completely acquits the federalists of this being 
a party scheme ; for the tide was then high and still making. 

The people were brought out to cry against this law, which 
certainly not one in a thousand of them could understand any 
thing about. Of course you must expect to see them positive and 
intollerant in proportion as they are ignorant. This was very 
unfortunate. The independence and elevation of judges, is, of all 
points of government, the most important to the people. The 
judges are the only true and natural guardians of their rights: 
all the rest of government is little more than moonshine to them. 

His adherence to Mr. Gerry,^^'^ was perhaps the most conse- 
quential act of his time. It disunited and disgusted his friends. 
The noble virtue of friendship may become a great evil in a chief 
ruler. It was almost an unpardonable weakness to adhere to him, 
after a man of his mediocrity of talents suffering himself to be 
separated from his colleagues even for a day, but to stay behind 
them at the request of Talleyrand — it was an independence never 
to be forgiven. 

The sequel cannot be thought of without feeling the utmost 
severity toward Mr. Gerry. What an inimitable crisis to display 
the great man ! to make a treaty delightful to all America, save a 
little junto who were anxious for war at all events ! Talleyrand 
biting his nails to see how he missed the mark — anxious to make 
a treaty on yielding terms — How does Mr. Gerry face up to this 
noble conjuncture? Why, he doesn't face up at all; he looks 
round and finds himself standing alone on the ice, away ever so 
far from shore, falls into a tremor, disavows to Talleyrand all 
he had written about his go-between's X. Y. & W. [Z.] vows and 
protests most positively he has had no doings with any woman 
at Paris ; and calls to Mr. Adams for God's sake help me out of 
the lurch — I got into it on your account — and my compliments to 
your lady — O Lord, how snivelling! Instead of supporting him, 
he ought to have borrowed Hotspur's tongfue, and cursed himself 
for moving such a dish of skim'd milk to so noble an action. 

"'Gibbs, ^'Administrations of Washington and Adams," Vol. I, 464-468. 

142 



Lastly. His crowding into the last hours of his office so many 
appointments, was very exceptionable; and only to be accounted 
for by the soreness and resentment he felt at the calumnies by 
which he had lost his office. He ought to have proceeded in his 
appointments exactly as though he was to remain in office for 
years. Mr. Jefferson told me he considered all Mr. Adam's doings 
after the 14th of February, when he knew he was to leave the 
office, as nought. I thought the idea a very bad one, and the 
result of party feeling ; but I did not say any thing, because a little 
before he had been shewing me his horse, and said he was the 
best in America. I looked a thousand no's — one I guardedly 
expressed ; but he glanced toward me such a look of astonishment, 
that I did not wish to put an end to all further conversation by 
disapproving his idea as to appointments; for it was my object to 
see the man's mind in action. 

There are many offices which cannot be vacant one day with- 
out public inconvenience ; collectors and inspectors of ports are of 
these. [58] 

So much for the administration of this upright man, which 
happened at a troubled season, and was supported with good 
intentions and great exertions, but without a sufficient portion of 
temperance, discretion or judgment. 



President Jefferson, 

WHOEVER attempts to speak with exact justice about this 
man, will be accused of most inveterate malice and bitterness. 

This man is a friend to this country, and before the constitu- 
tion was adopted he thought rightly in many respects of her in- 
terest, and if he outlives his official engagement seven years, will 
think rightly of her interests again. But he has long since made 
his judgment play the whore to his ambition ; for I have no doubt 
he has been intriguing through the instrumentality of the vilest 
printers and tools for the place he now fills almost ever since 
the constitution was adopted ; and that the character given me 
of him by the ever to be lamented Hamilton, is that which the 
historian of the next age will give him — "that he was a man as 
fond of place and power, and as great a hypocrite as ever lived." 

I don't allude to his machinations against president Wash- 
ington, and keeping certain printers practising against him — I 

143 



would rather note things within my own time and memory — let- 
ter to Mazzei^^^ for instance, at the time he was making that re- 
markable address to mr, Adams, and praying God that no event 
might call him to the presidency — at a time when he was caress- 
ing general Washington as a father. At the time when he was 
in closest intimacy with mr. Adams, he was paying that cut-throat 
Calender^^^ to write the Prospect. Monstrous ! 

For my own part I do not consider his hypocrisy as flowing 
from any positive wickedness of heart, I am confident, that it is a 
native, constitutional, inherent duplicity, which he could no more 
avoid than Washington could conquer the unity of his mind. His 
writings convince me of this. A duplicity of style is seen in every 
line of that man's pen on politics. He is unlike any other man of 
that cast I have remarked ; for it is generally the case that a man 
with two tongues, only speaks with one at a time, and to one 
party at a time. But mr, Jefferson never speaks in public with 
less than two tongues at once, and occasionally employs to the 
amount of four. Look at the inauguration speech — the prettiest 
composition in the world, only that it contains nothing at all, and 
yet like a piece of holy writ, it fitted all parties — Look at his 
communications ever since, particularly of 1805, and that about 
Burr last winter. 

He came to the helm at a moment as fortunate for his fame 
as Adam's leaving it was unfortunate for his. Peace was just 
made with France — ^the navy was to be sold off — the army just 
disbanded.^*" It seemed as if he stepped on the theatre and all 
the disagreeable objects disappeared in a moment; never was a 
crisis more fortunate for a man who built his face upon oecono- 
mising. He set himself to pay off the public debt, an undertaking 
most laudable certainly if ever one was attempted in this country. 
May he enjoy all the fame he wished in this — far be it for me to 
withhold my mite of it — I never gave one more freely. No engine 
ever yet discovered works so variously or so formidably as a 
national debt. I wish to see no [59] artificial influence in govern- 
ment. — Here my applause stops, for I can safely say I don't ap- 
prove one other measure of his administration. 

^^^ Jefferson' s Writings {Ford's Ed.), VII, 165. 

''''Ibid. VIII. 

'*" The army was ordered dismissed March, 1800, by Congress. It was a 
blow to the extreme Federalists. 

144 



1st. He abolished all the internal taxes^*^ — ^here his passion 
for fame led him beyond the measure of his candor and judgment ; 
the people thought it was wonderful. It was never recollected 
that he was able to do much with the funds left by mr. Adams, 
and able to cut up and turn many of his old cloaths so as to make 
them look as good as new, to wit: his arrearages of old internal 
taxes — the sales of his ships of war — sale of all our shares in the 
bank; these added together made a vast sum — then the sale of 
lands which was spoken of above; public expenditure had for- 
merly been rather prodigal, now it was nigardly. Every thing 
that would call for money failed; even the laws could not be 
printed and distributed. 

2d. One measure I never think on without indignation : a part 
of congress felt anxious to see some statue or monument of our 
father Washington at the capitol; as soon as it was mentioned, 
instead of saying in a manly manner, we don't approve of it, or 
cant afford it, or let it be put off for some years, they insiduously 
crowded in a great number of similar motions so as to annex 
weight enough to the subject to sink it — and so it did, 

3d. All however would not do ; a despicable imposture was to 
be resorted to, to help out the government — now would any man 
ever guess what it was? When mr. Jefferson came in and abol- 
ished these taxes, a war was depending in the Mediteranean — 
NOW woNDijRifUL TO BE TOLD ! One frigate was lost in the Medi- 
teranean — what was the consequence ? — a ne;w tax was to be had 
— none of your abominable whiskey tax, or stamps, whereby the 
people are strained and pressed to the dust to raise $700,000. 
O no — it was only a little temporary contribution christened Med- 
iteranean fund of $i,ioo,ooo."2 O masterly financier! how the 
fame of Colbert and Pitt falls before thee! Their names die 
away on the page of history. The loss of one frigate was an event 
so wholly beyond your calculations that all your system of finance 
was deranged by it. In what a superior style your excellency 
would have led France through the calamities of the Nile and 
Trafalgar. No, countrymen, here you see this man's character- 
istic devotion to appearances; had this event not have happened 
he would have got the same fund by affecting that we were 
threatened with a quarrel by the emperor of Morocco, or the pacha 

"1 An income of $900,000 was cut off by this act. McMaster, II, 615. 
^^■^ Adams, Hist, oj U. S., Vol. II, 141. 



of Acre, or that the war in the Mediteranean had been prolonged 
unexpectedly. 

4. Now after all this I will name to you two acts of the pub- 
lic oeconomy, which have come to my own knowledge, and from 
these you can guess the general course of affairs. 

The governor of Indiana had represented to the former ad- 
ministration, that two men of the name of Williams, and one 
Crutchelon of Breckinridge county (a frontier settlement) had 
been guilty of murdering some Indians on Oil-creek in an atro- 
cious manner. Process to apprehend them had been ordered, one 
of them was taken, but in consequence of an outrageous meeting 
which took place on behalf of the culprit at Breckinridge Court- 
house, the man got away. When mr. Jefferson came in, the secre- 
tary at war ordered me to pursue this matter. *^*^ Process was is- 
sued and the mar[6o]shal summoned a guard of nine men to 
go with him, but in consequence of the vigilance of the people in 
the neighborhood the man got away just as the marshal came in 
sight of him. The secretary refused to pay the guard, tho' allowed 
by the judge to be reasonable, and tho' I wrote also the state of 
the country there, and the sensibility of the people in favor of a 
man who had only killed an Indian. The marshal was likely to 
suffer the whole weight of the cost himself, till after many turns 
and applications it was paid off, except about $50, as he tells me. 
But he was so jeopardised that he has often assured me he would 
never dare summon a guard of any kind again unless ordered 
by the secretary. This is oeconomy. 

5th. The next is this : — Colonel Lewis of Albemarle, mr. Mun- 
roe's agent for his private affairs, told me that mr. Munroe had to 
set off on his ministry to Europe, without one dollar of outfit}**^ 

Now does any candid man really think that this sort of oecon- 

* General Dearborne enclosed me Mr. Lincoln's opinion in writing, with or- 
ders to prosecute the leader of the riot under the common law. / wrote back to 
the secretary, reminding him of the public heat his party had raised about the 
common law, and desiring to be instructed before court whether I should go on. 
No orders came, and I indicted the man, but stated to the court my own opinion 
of the want of jurisdiction. The court dismissed it. Before the court was over, 
the post brought Gen. Dearborne' s letter forbidding me to proceed. 

1" Note In the original pamphlet. 

i« Writings of Monroe {Hamilton's Ed.), Vol. IV, letter of March 15, 1804 

146 



omy is to characterise the courts of a national government, or is 
it not manifestly intended for a few years, for a temporary eclat? 
A president comes in by and by who thinks as the leader of a 
nation ought; he cant go on this way, and if he takes any other, 
it is at once cried out, "ah ! had we but Jefferson again, he did 
without all internal taxes, why can't it be so now?" Although 
every intelligent man must see that such oeconomy would in a few 
years produce the most deplorable national poverty and debility. 

6. Another event about this time is particularly worthy of 
remark. When mr. Adams was on the point of a war with France, 
it was understood that an alliance with England was intended, to 
get the benefit of her fleet. Is there a man living here who does 
not recollect how the alarm bells were rung night and day from 
Savannah to Portland to rouse the people to repel this project. ( ?) 
I cant venture to state the number of resolutions I have seen dep- 
recating "any connection with the corrupt and tottering monarchy 
of Great Britain." Well now a war with Spain, perhaps France 
too, seemed to become probable. Which of you dont know that 
from the president himself down to the faintest democratic echo, 
an alliance with England was openly avowed as the true policy of 
government. Surely this ought to have opened the people's eyes. 
From the time the ruling powers came in, they had adopted all 
the politics and deportment toward England which they had been 
teazing the people to curse at for twelve years before, but now they 
had reached the maximum of contradiction and absurdity. 

7. Next came the admirable bargain for the other half of 
the world at $15,000,000, I should gladly give as much more to 
have it (except the island of Orleans) converted into an unin- 
habited desert. Our country should never stretch beyond the 
Mississippi, except to work the lead mines of Upper Louisiana. 
To have a desert for a frontier there would be very desirable but 
we all know this will not be the case. The American is like the 
wild-bee, nothing but the limits of the empire can stay his won- 
dering. 

8. His policy as to aliens, seems to me pregnant with great 
evils. America could very well fill up now with her own natural 
increase ; & the migration of foreigners, especially when natural- 
ized, keeps the community in a very perturbed fermenting con- 
dition. See what a stock of Jacobin leaven Pennsylvania has re- 

147 



ceived into her mass ; New York [is] coming on very fast in 
the [6i] same way. I disapprove the whole policy of our govern- 
ment, on this subject at all times. Naturalization should never 
come by statute, nor otherwise than a man's being born here. If 
you will receive foreigners, let them have full right to buy and 
dispose of, inherit or transmit property, with all the benefits of 
our laws and courts; but let them have no hand in our govern- 
ment — let none but a natural born citizen hold an office, or have 
any hand in editing, printing or conducting a news-paper. If the 
constitution compels us to have a law of naturalization, I approve 
the longest and most difficult course. 

Then I come to a collection of acts of the same cast. 

9. The abolition of the bankrupt law. 

10. Attempt at the mint. 

11. Judiciary Bill. 

12. Attempt to recede Columbia. 

13. Enmity and declaration of all Federal Courts. 

This points clearly, Countrymen, what these people aim at : to 
immolate the national government, to leave nothing but a name 
and a confederacy, such perhaps as has been seen at times among 
the Italian states, or in Switzerland, or in Holland, each of which 
has in turn fully proved that the weakness of government is the 
utmost curse that can befal a people. 

My opinion is that instead of taking away those laws, which 
tend to nationalize us, many others are pressingly necessary to be 
made national ; particularly — 

The Law of Inheritance. 

The Law of Dower. 

The Law directing the mode of conveying lands. 

The Law as to Powers of Attorney. 

The Law of Crimes. 

The Law pointing out the mode of proceeding in Civil Cases. 

The Law limiting the times of bringing suits. 

If such laws as these should be adopted for the Federal Courts, 
which in some degree they might, the people would in time see 
the great advantage of having the whole Civil and Criminal Code 
national and universal ; and perhaps be brought to consent that 
there should be but one constitution for America, which should 

148 



provide for a national government and state governments — the 
states to flow out of the nation [,] to be no longer sovereign, and 
only to rule their local police. 

14. One of the most remarkable points of Mr. Jefferson's 
statesmanship still remains to be mentioned. He draws all his 
revenue from commerce, yet determines that no protection is to 
be afforded that great source of national prosperity. I don't know 
what the fashionable course of speech is now ; but when I min- 
gled last with these new lights, it was in every one's mouth, "Let 
commerce defend itself — let it be defended by insurance." This 
sounds very well at first hearing, but when you come to examine 
it, nothing can be more absurd. What is it to the nation, whether 
the merchant or the insurance company, loose the value of the 
ship and cargo? So much is lost to the nation. If I insure my 
ship and she is taken, I get paid by the insurers ; but who indemni- 
fies them ? So much is gone forever from the aggregate of Amer- 
ican wealth. Now if we all insured in some foreign country, then 
indeed no loss to America would accrue, supposing that the suf- 
ferer always got certain and speedy indemnification ; but as much 
delay and difficulty attends a claim of this kind ever at home, few 
will choose from motives of general national policy to insure be- 
yond the Atlantic. As [62] a part of this same system it is de- 
termined to let our ports and harbours defend themselves, while 
it is desired to get the constitution altered, that a new disposition 
of treasure may be made on schools, which of all public objects, 
require least the fostering hand of government in America, where 
the pride of and passion for learning and the means of gratification 
are so universal. The proportion of learned men may be too 
great for the labourers in the community. Few of us have any 
well founded fears, that it will fall short in a country where the 
cultivation of letters is so universal as ours. You will say that 
we do not cultivate the high and elevated branches. I answer, we 
cultivate that which suits us, and which corresponds to our age 
and national condition; when a better sort is in requisition we 
will have it. 

Countrymen, when will be the probable termination of this 
policy as to our sea ports ? To me it seems that the least result iS; 
that we must truckle to any and every European power that 
chooses to insult us, and humbly beseech them, to refrain from 
abusing us, and to make us amends for past losses — this is the 

149 



least: the worst is, that one of their fleets enters our ports and 
lays our cities in ashes. One ship of war could sweep looo miles 
of our coast. We have been very vociferous for restraining the 
usurpations of England at sea — so have other weak powers been. 
Do you recollect the result of an attempt of this kind in 1801, 
when lord Nelson entered the Baltic? Do you recollect the visit 
he made Copenhagen? How would New- York and Norfolk 
receive such a visitant? New York is hastening to be the focal 
point of American commerce — it is very much so now — ^the most 
important, the most flourishing, and the most exposed city on 
the continent. The burning of that city would bankrupt half 
the merchants of America. Yet these people who have been 
threatened and insulted — who can't sleep in quiet for their appre- 
hensions, are suffered to remain thus exposed, while the presi- 
dent is hatching up phantoms to engage the attention and energies 
of the nation. One of their people has been shot down before 
their eyes. What was done? A hue and cry ordered after the 
man who had gone to the British territories. Despicable mockery ! 
You say he could do nothing. Then, I pray you, order matters 
so, that something can be done the next time. 

In short, Countrymen, this statesman's course is pointed to 
quench the military spirit, and to make us a nation of wise men 
and tributaries. 

Small matters at times, give us intelligence of the views of £ 
public man. Among such the abolition of the levee has been tc 
me remarkable. Is there a man who knows any thing about it., 
and imagines that Mr. Jefferson thinks the levee only for parade 
and show, or otherwise than an institution of pressing necessity. 
Throughout the year he is exposed to continual interruptions ; but 
during the session of Congress he has scarce a moment of day 
light to call his own. Nothing but extreme exertions and priva- 
tions of rest could enable him to do his business. And why does 
he suffer this? Because in the former times the levee was called 
a parade of state — like monarchy — an affectation of grandeur — 
this man and his party abused it, and from a wish to impress you 
with the idea, that "old things are passed away, and all things 
are become new," he submits to bear up under such a load of 
interruption and ceremony, as scarce a tavern keeper could en- 
dure ; and which with four men of five would end in a sacrifice of 
public business. 

150 



To sum up: — This man's whole merit as a chief, consists in 
one chapter of finance — that of oeconomy; — even there he re- 
quires some check to keep him within bounds: in every other 
branch of poHtics he is a boy. His [63] ambition to drive the 
car of the sun is very great — it is unsurpassed ; but he has neither 
judgment to steer his way, nor nerves to hold the reins, when the 
carriage approaches the high plains of the zenith. 

If money can buy out his difficulties, he'll go on very well as 
long as he leads congress by the nose ; but the moment the people 
stop and call to him to lead, instead of following them, he's all 
in the suds. He is an excellent secretary of state — his fine talent 
for composing, uncommon pretty — for putting a good face on 
things is unmatched. He can dress up nothing at all so as to 
strike and astonish the multitude with its magnitude and momen- 
tousness. 

To seem and not to be, is the foundation of the man's charac- 
ter. He has thought to creep up to his present elevation so 
craftily as to cheat the historian, to hoodwink fame ; but how 
can this be done by a man so unequal to times of trial, by a chief 
during whose day the mass of American talents have been kept 
in exile. 



Kxtracts From Ellicott's Journal, 

First extract, page 97. — "In case of a rupture with the United 
States, the officers of his Catholic Majesty calculated largel> 
upon the effects of their intrigues, and the money they had ex- 
pended in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, and other districts 
west of the Allegany Mountain [,] for the purpose of detaching 
the inhabitants from the union. These intrigues as far as I was 
able to discover, appeared to have originated with mr. Gardouque 
[Mr. Gardauqui], at the time he was his Catholic Majesty's min- 
ister to the United States." 

Second ex. page 132. — "While at that place (Darling's- 
creek)[,] by a very extraordinary accident, a letter from the 
Governor General, on its way to a confidential officer in the 
Spanish service [,] fell into my hands for a few hours. 

151 



This letter contained the most unequivocal proof, of the late 
existence of a plan[,] calculated to injure the United States, [;] 
but which appeared then to be abandoned, and in which a number 
of our citizens had been actually engaged. From this letter it was 
rendered evident, that the suspicions of the late General Wayne 
respecting an improper correspondence being carried on between 
the officers of his Catholic Majesty, and some gentlemen residing 
in the western part of the United States, were well founded; 
but it was equally certain [,] that he was mistaken in several 
cases [,] as to the individual objects of his suspicion. It is like- 
wise a fact[,] that the dispatches, and nearly twenty thousand 
dollars in silver [,] to be paid to certain characters were on board 
of the boat from New-Orleans, which was taken by his order, 
and examined by lieutenant [Lieut.] Steele, [Steel;] but the 
articles were overlooked. [ !] The interesting parts of the above 
mentioned letter [,] were reduced to cypher, and accompanied my 
dispatches of November the 8th, 1798 to the department of state." 

Third ex. page 197. — "Although those documents concern- 
ing mr. Hutchens, [mr. Hutchins] must be conclusive with every 
person who reads them, they are not more so[,] than those I 
saw relative to the plan already mentioned, for the effecting of 
which a number of our citizens received considerable sums of 
money from the Spanish government; the difference is, I am not 
yet at liberty to make the same use of them." [64] 



Affidavit Alluded To In The Preceding Part 
Of The Pamphlet. 

ON Wednesday, about noon, on the fifth inst. J. H. Daveiss, 
Esq. attorney of the U. S. for the above district, rose, and ad- 
dressing the court, said that he had a motion to make of the 
utmost magnitude and extraordinary nature, and which regarded 
to welfare of the union at large — that the unhappy state of his 
health alone, had prevented him from making it on the first day 
of the term — that he should ground his motion on an affidavit 
which he would present to the court. He then made oath to the 
following affidavit : — 

152 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 

Kentucky District Set. 

J. H. Daveiss, attorney for the said United States, in and for 
said district, upon his corporal oath, doth depose and say, That 
the deponent is informed, and doth verily believe, that a certain 
Aaron Burr, Esq. late vice-president of the said United States, 
for several months past, hath been, and is now engaged in pre- 
paring, and setting on foot, and in providing and preparing the 
means, for a military expedition and enterprise within this dis- 
tract, for the purpose of descending the Ohio & Mississippi there- 
with, & making war upon the subjects of the king of Spain, who 
are in a state of peace with the people of these U. States — To wit : 
on the provinces of Mexico, on the westwardly side of Louisiana, 
which appertain and belong to the king of Spain, an European 
prince with whom these United States are at peace. 

And said deponent further saith, that he is informed, and 
verily believes, that the above charge can be^ and will be fully 
substantiated by evidence, provided this honorable court will grant 
compulsory process to bring in witnesses to testify thereto. 

And the deponent further saith, that he is informed, and verily 
believes, that the agents and emissaries of the said Burr, have 
purchased up, and are continuing to purchase, large stores of 
provisions, as if for an army ; while the said Burr, seems to con- 
ceal in great mystery from the people at large, his purposes and 
projects, and while the minds of the good people of this district, 
seem agitated with the current rumour that a military expedition 
against some neighbouring power, is preparing by said Burr. 

Wherefore, said attorney, on behalf of the said U. S. pray, 
that due process issue to compell the personal appearance of the 
said Aaron Burr, in this court ; and also of such witnesses as may 
be necessary on behalf of the said U. States ; and that this hon- 
ourable court, will duly recognise the said Aaron Burr, to answer 
such charges as may be prefered against him in the premises; 
and in the meantime, that he desist and refrain from all further 
preparation and proceeding in the said armament within the said 
U. States, or the territories or dependencies thereof. 

J. H. DAVEISS, A. u. s. 



153 



Having read this affidavit the attorney proceeded in the fol- 
low [ing] words: — 

The present subject has much engaged my mind. The case 
made out is only as to the expedition against Mexico ; but I have 
information on which I can rely, that all the western territories 
are the next object of the scheme — and finally, all the region of 
the Ohio is calculated as falling into the vortex of the new pro- 
posed revolution. 



154 



